Precisely

How to spell precisely

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce precisely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does precisely mean?

1. adverbIn an exact manner; with no error or vagueness in amount, time, or detail.

Precisely in a sentence

• The train departs at precisely nine o'clock each morning.

• She measured the timber precisely before making the first cut.

Where does precisely come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin praecisus, the past participle of praecidere, meaning 'to cut off short' or 'to shorten by cutting'. That verb was built from prae, meaning 'in front' or 'before', and caedere, meaning 'to cut', so the literal idea was something trimmed and cut down to its exact edges. From the sense of being cut short and sharply defined came the meaning 'exact' and 'definite'. English borrowed the adjective 'precise' through Old French in the late fifteenth century, and the adverb 'precisely' followed soon after by adding the familiar -ly ending. The same caedere root for cutting also lurks in words like 'incision', 'concise', and 'scissors', which is a useful hint that the tricky middle is spelled with a c, not an s.

How the word is built

• pre- (before)
• cis (from Latin caedere, to cut)
• -ely (adverb suffix, precise
• -ly)