Word family noun precision ≠ imprecision adjective precise ≠ imprecise precision adverb precisely ≠ imprecisely
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpreciselypre‧cise‧ly /prɪˈsaɪsli/ ●●○ W3 AWL adverb 1 EXACTexactly and correctly SYN exactly Temperature can be measured precisely. He arrived at precisely four o'clock.precisely what/how/where etc It is difficult to know precisely how much impact the changes will have. What, precisely, does that mean? Lathes make wheels, or, more precisely, they make cylindrical objects.► see thesaurus at exactly2 EXACTused to emphasize that a particular thing is completely true or correct Women in these jobs are paid less precisely because most of the jobs are held by women rather than men. She’s precisely the kind of person we’re looking for.3 spoken formalAGREE used to say that you agree completely with someone ‘It needs to be dealt with now.’ ‘Precisely, before it gets any worse.’Examples from the Corpus
precisely• We arrived at the hotel at precisely 10:30.• Fife Symington has been in office precisely 18 days.• The different categories of traveller are very hard to assess at all precisely.• The cloud cover as well as the atmospheric conditions are precisely defined.• What precisely do you mean by 'relativity'?• That world evolves in a clear and deterministic way, being governed by precisely formulated mathematical equations.• We need to know precisely how much this is going to cost.• They are, of course, precisely right.• Further down the scale the monarchic principle constitutes an obstacle to precisely that sense of responsibility about which we hear so much.• The new legislation won't solve the problem - it will do precisely the opposite.• That is precisely the point I was trying to make earlier.• What precisely, then, do we mean by church union?• Can you tell us more precisely what happened?more precisely• But problems begin to arise when such stylistic criteria are pressed more precisely.• In some cases, however, the design philosophy of another supplier will meet the user's needs more precisely.• Uranium-238 decays more quickly, with a half-life of 4.5 billion years, and can therefore date the star more precisely.• The most serious enemy of the mountain goat is snow, or more precisely avalanches.• Or, more precisely, one golden night: Friday, June 4,1976.• This vicious circle is more precisely specified in Chapter 7.• These have made it possible for scientists to manipulate more precisely the genetic make-up of living organisms.• Putting this more precisely, the proper time taken by light to pass to and fro between two fixed points in spaces oscillates.precisely because• It is precisely because all is not certain that we have to make certain.• Now Fuchs is a particularly good advertisement for health economics, precisely because he is no genius.• The whole process is inescapable precisely because more and more people want it to be so.• Some might envy his position down in Ca Mau, precisely because nothing was happening.• The answer is: precisely because of this doctrine.• It is precisely because such a code does not exist, that we live in a period of uncertainty and experimentation.• Indeed, many people seem to feel uncomfortable at a concert precisely because the occasion demands concentrated listening. 