precise

• præcise (archaic)

From Middle French précis, from Latin praecisus. Doublet of précis.

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsaɪs/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪs
• Hyphenation: pre‧cise

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, 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

• See also Thesaurus:meticulous

• precisely
• prissy

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.

• precising definition

• piecers, pierces, recipes

precise

1. feminine plural of preciso

precise f pl

1. feminine plural of preciso

precise

1. third-person singular past historic of precidere

• perisce

precise

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

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

precise

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