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accurate

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd
Proto-Italic *ad
Proto-Italic *ad-
Latin ad-
Proto-Indo-European *kʷey-
Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys-der.
Proto-Italic *kʷoizā
Latin cūra
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Latin cūrō
Latin accūrō
Latin accūrātusbor.
English accurate

    First attested in the 1610's with the now obsolete sense "done with care", and from the 1650's with the sense "precise, exact".

    Borrowed from Latin accūrātus (“done with care”), perfect passive participle of accūrō (“take care of”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + cūrō (“take care”), from cūra (“care”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix). Compare English cure.

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    accurate (comparative more accurate, superlative most accurate)

    1. Telling the truth or giving a true result; exact; not defective or faulty.
      an accurate calculator
      an accurate measure
      accurate knowledge
      • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page x:
        For more than 90% of the figures (mostly drawn during 1976-1990), either a scale, or the given magnification, will allow the user to derive accurate measurements, even when these are lacking in the diagnosis.
    2. Deviating only slightly or within acceptable limits.
      Synonym: unerring
      My horoscopes I read last week were surprisingly accurate.
    3. On course to hit, or successful in hitting, a target; well-aimed.
      Synonym: precise
      an accurate pass
      an accurate shot
    4. Capable of consistently hitting a target, especially using some weapon or tool.
      an accurate marksman
      an accurate shooter
    5. (obsolete) Precisely fixed; executed with care; careful.
      • 1625, Bacon, Of the Vicissitude of Things:
        for that is the fume of those, that conceive the celestial bodies have more accurate influences upon these things below, than indeed they have

    Usage notes

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    • We speak of a thing as correct with reference to some rule or standard of comparison; as, a correct account, a correct likeness, a man of correct deportment.
    • We speak of a thing as accurate with reference to the care bestowed upon its execution, and the increased correctness to be expected therefrom; as, an accurate statement, an accurate detail of particulars.
    • We speak of a thing as exact with reference to that perfected state of a thing in which there is no defect and no redundancy; as, an exact coincidence, the exact truth, an exact likeness.
    • We speak of a thing as precise when we think of it as strictly conformed to some rule or model, as if cut down thereto; as a precise conformity instructions; precisely right; he was very precise in giving his directions.

    Synonyms

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    Antonyms

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    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    References

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    1. ^ Hurd, Seth P. (1847), “Accuracy”, in “False Pronunciation”, in A Grammatical Corrector; or, A Vocabulary of the Common Errors of Speech‎[1], Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co, →OCLC, page 77.

    Anagrams

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    Dutch

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    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    accurate

    1. inflection of accuraat:
      1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
      2. definite neuter singular attributive
      3. plural attributive

    Interlingua

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    Adjective

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    accurate (comparative plus accurate, superlative le plus accurate)

    1. accurate
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    Italian

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    Adjective

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    accurate f pl

    1. feminine plural of accurato

    Anagrams

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    Latin

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    Etymology

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    From accūrātus (“elaborate, exact”).

    Adverb

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    accūrātē (comparative accūrātius, superlative accūrātissimē)

    1. carefully, precisely, exactly
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    References

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    • “accurate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • “accurate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • “accurate”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
      • a carefully written book: liber accurate, diligenter scriptus
    • Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)
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