adjective
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faithfully representing or describing the truth
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showing a negligible or permissible deviation from a standard
an accurate ruler
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without error; precise; meticulous
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maths
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(to n significant digits) representing the first n digits of the given number starting with the first nonzero digit, but approximating to the nearest digit in the final position
since π = 3.14159…, the approximation 3.1416 is accurate to 5 significant digits.
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(to n decimal places) giving the first n digits after the decimal point without further approximation
π = 3.1415 is in this sense accurate to 4 decimal places
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Related Words
See correct.
Other Word Forms
- accurately adverb
- accurateness noun
- hyperaccurate adjective
- hyperaccurateness noun
- superaccurate adjective
- superaccurateness noun
- unaccurate adjective
- unaccurateness noun
Etymology
Origin of accurate
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin accūrātus “carefully prepared” (past participle of accūrāre ), equivalent to ac- ac- + cūr(a) “care” + -ātus -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Programmes like the nationwide rural jobs guarantee, for instance, depend on an accurate sense of which areas are still "rural" - a category that may have shifted significantly over 15 years.
From BBC
The Foundation calculates what is known as the Real Living Wage, which it says is a more accurate reflection of the cost of living in the UK.
From BBC
Yet there’s still a dearth of accurate information about the damage already done to the energy infrastructure of the Middle East, as well as what safety measures may take hold going forward, Gordon noted.
From MarketWatch
They return again and again to the phenomenon of experiential change, such as the way that memories may seem accurate or false depending on one’s vantage, or when something original is mistaken for its simulacrum.
“The thing that’s different now is that you’re trying to be the person you want to be, rather than the one he wants you to be, to serve his needs. Would you say that’s accurate?”
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
