precise

See also: précise, precisé, and précisé

English

Alternative forms

• præcise (archaic)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsaɪs/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪs
• Hyphenation: pre‧cise

Adjective

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

1. 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

2. (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

3. adhering too much to rules; prim or punctilious

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:meticulous

Derived terms

• precisely
• prissy

Translations

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

Verb

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

1. (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.

Derived terms

• precising definition

Translations

to specify

• Bulgarian: уточнявам (bg) (utočnjavam), прецизирам (bg) (preciziram)
• French: préciser (fr)
• German: präzisieren (de)
• Polish: precyzować (pl)
• Spanish: precisar (es), especificar (es), concretar (es), pormenorizar (es), detallar (es)

Anagrams

• piecers, pierces, recipes

Italian

Adjective

precise

1. feminine plural of preciso

Participle

precise f pl

1. feminine plural of preciso

Verb

precise

1. third-person singular past historic of precidere

Anagrams

• perisce

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾeˈsi.zi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾeˈsi.zi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾeˈsi.ze/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾɨˈsi.z(ɨ)/

Verb

precise

1. inflection of precisar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /pɾeˈθise/ [pɾeˈθi.se]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /pɾeˈsise/ [pɾeˈsi.se]
• Rhymes: -ise
• Syllabification: pre‧ci‧se

Verb

precise

1. inflection of precisar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative