Dictionary.com

Popular Searches

 Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

exactly

American  
[ig-zakt-lee] / ɪgˈzækt li /

adverb

  1. in an exact manner; precisely; accurately.

  2. in every respect; just.

    He will do exactly what he wants.

  3. quite so; that's right.

idioms

  1. not exactly,

    1. in no way; not at all.

      It’s not exactly funny, is it?

    2. not completely so, but nearly so.

      The burgers are not exactly raw, but they need more cooking.

    3. (as an ironic response) no.

      “Is that the jacket you ordered?” “Not exactly.”
exactly British  
/ ɪɡˈzæktlɪ /

adverb

  1. in an exact manner; accurately or precisely

  2. in every respect; just

    it is exactly what I want

  3. ironic not at all; by no means

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

  1. just so! precisely!

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of exactly

First recorded in 1525–35; exact + -ly

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.

Ghana's government has removed the name of a coup leader, who helped overthrow founding father Kwame Nkrumah exactly 60 years ago, from the country's main airport.

From BBC

A weakening labor market tends to hit low-skill workers first, and that is exactly what happened last year.

From The Wall Street Journal

"There are a lot of examples in nature of allocating resources to survival under times of stress. It's exactly aligned with what we're seeing at the cellular level."

From Science Daily

Turns out, there’s an indicator worth watching that helps show exactly that.

From Barron's

And that’s exactly what this showed me, was that I can do anything, I can conquer a lot of things.

From Los Angeles Times

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.