not exactly

phrase

informal

1

—used in speech as a mild way of saying "no" especially to indicate that what someone has said is not completely correct or true

"He's your boss, isn't he?" "Not exactly."

"Did everything go the way you planned it?" "Not exactly."

2

—used as a humorous or ironic way to say "not"

He's not exactly the smartest guy I've ever met.

Examples of not exactly in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On July 10, Bregman had a 91 wRC+, not exactly abysmal, but not what anyone was expecting when the Chicago Cubs gave him a five-year, $175 million deal in January. — Sahadev Sharma, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026

Former Seattle Seahawks and 11-year NFL veteran Richard Sherman, not exactly known to be soft with his thoughts and feelings about anything, unleashed on the Cowboys defense. — Mac Engel september 14, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Sep. 2026

Two seasons in, the massively expensive Amazon show and passion project of Jeff Bezos himself is critically liked but not exactly the ratings dynamo the service probably would have wanted given the series’ reported $1 billion investment. — Josef Adalian, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2026

But that’s not exactly the case, in part because Giffords herself is a former Blue Dog House Democrat. — Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 10 Sep. 2026

Rhymes for not exactly

• abstractly