precise

See also: précise, precisé, and précisé

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

præcise (archaic)

EtymologyEdit

From Middle French précis, from Latin praecisus, perfect passive participle of praecīdere, from prae- (“before, in front”) +‎ caedere (“cut; strike”), cognate with English hit. Related to English incise. Doublet of précis.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsaɪs/
Audio (RP) (file)
Rhymes: -aɪs
Hyphenation: pre‧cise

AdjectiveEdit

precise (comparative more precise or preciser, superlative most precise or precisest)

exact, accurate
- 1921, Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind:
  A memory is "precise" when the occurrences that would verify it are narrowly circumscribed: for instance, "I met Jones" is precise as compared to "I met a man." A memory is "accurate" when it is both precise and true, i.e. in the above instance, if it was Jones I met.
- 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎^[1], page 7:
  Individually, some of these definitions fall into the common definitional trap of being overly precise.
Antonyms: inexact, imprecise
(sciences, of experimental results) consistent, clustered close together, agreeing with each other (this does not mean that they cluster near the true, correct, or accurate value)
- 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
  Risk is everywhere. […] For each [kind] there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you. “The Norm Chronicles” […] aims to help data-phobes find their way through this blizzard of risks.
Antonyms: inconsistent, varying
adhering too much to rules; prim or punctilious

SynonymsEdit

See also Thesaurus:meticulous

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

exact

American Sign Language: SmallO@NearTipThumb-PalmDown-SmallO@CenterChesthigh-PalmUp CirclesSurface Contact
Arabic: مَضْبُوط‎ (maḍbūṭ), دَقِيق‎ (ar) (daqīq)
Armenian: ճիշտ (hy) (čišt), ճշգրիտ (hy) (čšgrit)
Azerbaijani: dəqiq (az)
Belarusian: дакла́дны (dakládny)
Bulgarian: то́чен (bg) (tóčen), преци́зен (bg) (precízen)
Catalan: precís (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 準確／准确 (zh) (zhǔnquè), 正確／正确 (zh) (zhèngquè), 精確／精确 (zh) (jīngquè)
Czech: přesný (cs)
Danish: præcis (da)
Dutch: nauwkeurig (nl), precies (nl)
Esperanto: preciza (eo)
Estonian: täpne (et)
Finnish: tarkka (fi)
French: précis (fr)
Galician: preciso
Georgian: ზუსტი (zusṭi)
German: präzise (de), genau (de)
Greek: ακριβής (el) (akrivís)
Ancient: ἀκριβής (akribḗs), ἀτρεκής (atrekḗs)
Hungarian: pontos (hu)
Irish: cruinn, beacht, gonta, pointeáilte
Italian: preciso (it), esatto (it), accurato (it)
Japanese: 正確な (ja) (せいかくな, seikaku na), 精密な (ja) (せいみつな, seimitsu na), 厳密な (ja) (げんみつな, genmitsu na)
Khmer: ត្រឹម (km) (trəm)
Korean: 정확한 (ko) (jeonghwak-han)
Latin: exāctus
Latvian: precīzs
Lithuanian: tikslus (lt)
Macedonian: то́чен (tóčen), пре́цизен (précizen)
Mongolian: нарийн (mn) (nariin)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: presis (no), nøyaktig (no)
Occitan: precís (oc)
Persian: دقیق‎ (fa) (daqiq), پرسون‎ (parsun)
Polish: dokładny (pl), precyzyjny (pl)
Portuguese: preciso (pt)
Russian: то́чный (ru) (tóčnyj)
Scottish Gaelic: pongail
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: точан, тачан, прецизан

Roman: točan (sh), tačan (sh), precizan (sh)
Slovak: presný
Slovene: natančen
Spanish: preciso (es), concreto (es)
Swedish: precis (sv), noggrann (sv), noga (sv), exakt (sv)
Thai: แม่นยำ (th) (mɛ̂n-yam)
Turkish: dakik (tr), kesin (tr)
Ukrainian: то́чний (uk) (tóčnyj), докла́дний (dokládnyj)
West Frisian: preciis

(sciences) clustered close together

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: precijs
Finnish: tarkka (fi)
German: exakt (de)
Interlingua: precise
Japanese: 厳密な (げんみつな, genmitsu na), 正確な (せいかくな, seikaku na)
Portuguese: preciso (pt)
Russian: please add this translation if you can
Swedish: noggrann (sv)
West Frisian: preciis

VerbEdit

precise (third-person singular simple present precises, present participle precising, simple past and past participle precised)

(nonstandard, non-native speakers' English or European Union documents, transitive) To make or render precise; to specify.
- 2011, Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the Common Fisheries Policy:
  This proposal for a new basic regulation is justified because there is a need to precise the objectives of the CFP.