All 14 Uses

precise
in
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
(Edited)

As a trainer, she was relentless and precise, moving with the same crisp economy Edgar had noticed in teachers and nurses.
p. 21.2

precise = without wasted motion
Then she slipped into sign, which she performed unhurriedly and with great precision.
p. 57.4

precision = exactness or accuracy
And when they walked into the side yard, their gaits were identical, as if their bodies were hinged in precisely the same way.
p. 58.7 *

precisely = exactly
I do not think you have much chance of success, though your definition of success is less precise than ours.
p. 174.6

precise = exact
There are limits to what even the most rigorously scientific breeding program can accomplish—based not only on the foundation stock and the limits of precision we have for measuring the dogs, but on limits that come from within us—limits, in other words, of our own imagination, and of ourselves as conscientious human beings.
p. 177.9

precision = accuracy
If these are bound up in you and you alone, and not in data and precisely recorded procedures, what will your efforts amount to?
p. 190.8

precisely = meticulously (with great care for small details)
I confess, our rigor and precision wearies me at times.
p. 192.6 *

precision = meticulousness (careful attention to detail)
For she was not without her own selfish desires: to hold things motionless, to measure herself against them and find herself present, to know that she was alive precisely because he needn't acknowledge her in casual passing; that utter constancy might prevail if she attended the world so carefully.
p. 195.1

precisely = specifically (used for emphasis)
The same man who filled out log records with the precision of a penmanship teacher wrote his notes in a madman's scribble.
p. 276.9

precision = attention to detail
Slowly, and with great precision, so that the gesture was unmistakable, Edgar angled his left hand in front of him and shot his right beneath it, index finger as straight as the knife it was meant to evoke.
p. 278.9

precision = exactness (distinct, correct movement)
How had he forgotten that in the months after his father's death, she alone could console him, nosing him at precisely the instant to break some spiral of despair?
p. 363.9

precisely = exactly
"They call this one The Goldberg Variation," he said when he returned. He was holding a battered album cover in one hand. He looked at it again and, with self-conscious precision, corrected himself: "Variations."
p. 404.9

precision = accuracy
But that was Claude—tricking her into laughing precisely because she resisted.
p. 484.1

precisely = specifically (used for emphasis)
Precisely where the smoke belched into the light of the hooded lamp outside the doors stood the figure of a man.
p. 555.2

precisely = exactly

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Grouped by 2 Meanings

Definitions:

(1) (precise as in: about noon; 12:03 to be precise)
exact (accurate)

In the fields of science, engineering, and statistics, precise and accurate are not properly used as synonyms the way they are in general usage.

If you throw darts at a dartboard and keep missing the bullseye, but hit in the same place on the dartboard each time, you would be described as precise, but not accurate.

If you seldom hit the bullseye, but tended to get close each time, you would be described as accurate, but not precise.

Finally, if you hit the bullseye each time, you would be considered both accurate and precise.
(2) (precise as in: a precise personality)
meticulous (careful about details) -- especially to do things properly
(3) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)

precise in The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Edited)

precise
in
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
(Edited)