inexact
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inexact
Explanation
Something inexact is vague or not quite correct. If a doctor gives you an inexact diagnosis, you might want to see a specialist for a more specific opinion. When a poem's translation from one language to another is inexact, a lot of the original meaning can be lost. Some things, like weather prediction, simply have to be inexact — you could call meteorology, or the study of weather patterns, an "inexact science." The Latin root is exactus, "precise or accurate," with the added prefix in-, or "not."
Vocabulary lists containing inexact
Way Off: Synonyms for "Wrong"
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Wrong
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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.
Inexact language about where the money would go, she said, is one reason for her opposition.
From New York Times • Sep. 8, 2016
Inexact vocabularians have reckoned the average intelligent adult's vocabulary at about 15,000 words.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Inexact in small things as well as great," said Lady Margaret, who had returned to her accounts.
From Marie Gourdon A Romance of the Lower St. Lawrence by Ogilvy, Maud
Inexact in everything he did, irregular in his habits, irresponsible in his undertakings, he met at every turn the pressure of the firm, resolute hand of the new manager.
From To Him That Hath: a Tale of the West of Today by Connor, Ralph
Inexact execution on the one part, would naturally beget dissatisfaction and complaints on the other; and an instrument intended to strengthen our connection, might thus become the means of loosening it.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson
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.
