accurately

American  

[ak-yer-it-lee] / ˈæk yər ɪt li /

adverb

1. in a way that is free from error or defect and consistent with a standard, rule, or model.

   She worked on aircraft before they left on missions; the work needed to be done fast and accurately to ensure safety on all flights.

2. correctly; precisely.

   He’s a good lacrosse player; he passes well and can shoot accurately.

   Humans are generally afraid of death—or, more accurately, don't want to die.

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Other Word Forms

• hyperaccurately adverb
• superaccurately adverb
• unaccurately adverb

Etymology

Origin of accurately

accurate ( def. ) + -ly

Explanation

Anything done accurately is done correctly or with very few mistakes. Many things should be performed accurately, especially brain surgery. When you're accurate, you're precise: you get things right. To do something accurately is to do it in a precise, correct, careful manner. A baseball player with a good batting average hits the ball accurately. An accountant who never makes mistakes juggles the numbers accurately. If you got 100 on a test, you performed accurately. The opposite of this word is inaccurately, which means you did something wrong, incorrectly, or with a lot of mistakes.

Example Sentences

In addition, precision medicine approaches based on early biomarkers like plasma pTau217 could allow doctors to identify and treat Alzheimer's earlier and more accurately.

From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2026

Without ingredient disclosures, parents are unable to accurately compare products and may not know when manufacturers change ingredients, Knight said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

But Christendom most accurately captures the spirit of the idea: organizing the world along medieval civilizational lines.

From Slate • Apr. 9, 2026

There’s a risk that even auditors will fail to accurately assess a fund’s value or are late to appraise changes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

Mary directly understood about a quarter of what Atal was saying, but by questioning and guessing she found out the rest quite accurately; and her own command of the language was increasing all the time.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

Related Words

• exactly
• meticulously
• precisely