imprecise
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of imprecise
Explanation
If you’re being imprecise, you’re not being exact. If you try to draw a perfect circle with your eyes closed, your drawing will probably be imprecise. One field where imprecise measurements can turn out to be troublesome is cooking. If you add an imprecise amount of flour into pizza dough, you will either get a crumbly, floury mess that won't stick together, or a big, gooey glob of dough that you can't roll out into a flat crust. Either way, your pizza will not turn out very well, and you might want to remeasure or order from the local pizza place!
Vocabulary lists containing imprecise
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Way Off: Synonyms for "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.
As a Black kid growing up in the Michigan suburbs in the ’90s, my K-12 education on slavery was like that of many other Americans — both concise and, to put it mildly, imprecise.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
Private-equity valuations have always been somewhat imprecise, and firms have long had incentives to overstate the value of their holdings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
The microbe, Methanosarcina acetivorans, appears to function normally despite this flexible interpretation, demonstrating that life can operate with a slightly imprecise code.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 28, 2026
It was a lively but imprecise start at Villarreal's Estadio de la Ceramica, as the game glowed but neither side was able to seriously threaten.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
The fact that Aristarchus and Huygens used imprecise data and derived imperfect answers hardly matters.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
