precisely

adverb

pre·​cise·​ly pri-ˈsīs-lē 

1

: in a precise manner : exactly

weighing ingredients precisely

This incremental adjustment is continued until the bubble is precisely centered.

—Barry F. Kavanagh

—often used to emphasize the precision of something (such as a measurement, time, description, etc.)

The sample weighed precisely 6 ounces.

We arrived at precisely two o'clock.

She always knows precisely what to do.

He was popular precisely because he was so kind.

She always woke at eight precisely.

—P. G. Wodehouse

It is precisely to counter this sort of "negative advertising" that the garbage industry has lately been working hard to change its image.

—Elizabeth Royte

2

: quite so

—used to confirm emphatically that what has been said or suggested is exactly correct

"So you think the system is outdated?" "Precisely."

Synonyms of precisely

• just
• right
• exactly

Examples of precisely in a Sentence

I feel precisely the same way as you do.

measured the length of the board precisely

Recent Examples on the Web

Establishment language is longer, more cautious, and often optimized to avoid saying precisely what the public suspects is being concealed. —Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026

The Rams are in the NFC Championship game, one step from the Super Bowl, precisely because Stafford kept his cool when others might have lost theirs. —Jim Alexander, Oc Register, 24 Jan. 2026

When thousands of residents generate power during sunny summer afternoons — precisely when demand and electricity prices typically peak — the collective effect would ease strain on our electrical grid and help keep costs down for households. —Calvin Ball, Baltimore Sun, 23 Jan. 2026

Incorporating PBHs into the early universe requires physicists to adjust the parameters of their models very precisely to fit with observations, said Wenzer Qin, a theoretical physicist at New York University. —Quanta Magazine, 23 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for precisely

• concisely
• nicely