pinpoint
Americanverb
noun
-
an insignificant or trifling thing
-
the point of a pin
-
(modifier) exact
a pinpoint aim
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pinpointsimple
-
pinpointssimple
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have pinpointedperfect
-
has pinpointedperfect
-
am pinpointingprogressive
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are pinpointingprogressive
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is pinpointingprogressive
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have been pinpointingperfect progressive
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has been pinpointingperfect progressive
Past
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pinpointedsimple
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had pinpointedperfect
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was pinpointingprogressive
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were pinpointingprogressive
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had been pinpointingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pinpoint
Explanation
To pinpoint something is to nail down its exact location. The point of a pin is very small and fine. Similarly, when you pinpoint something, you have narrowed down its location to the smallest possibility: you've found out exactly where it is. The government is constantly trying to pinpoint the location of terrorists, just as police try to pinpoint the location of criminals. Dogs can pinpoint many things through smell. It's often hard to pinpoint which car is producing an annoying car alarm. When you pinpoint something, you've found it.
Vocabulary lists containing pinpoint
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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.
See Examples For:
What makes things even more difficult is that it’s impossible, as of now, to pinpoint the exact time and location of a downpour, even though it can be gauged with marvelous accuracy.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
Comparing the different groups allowed the team to pinpoint where each treatment was acting.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
That’s important only because “Wrong Girls” has the pinpoint silliness of soulmates who spend a lot of time goofing around at home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Scientists have yet to pinpoint a definitive cause for the rise in rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Harry shouldered the Firebolt and he and Ron walked out of the shadowy stadium, discussing the Firebolt’s superbly smooth action, its phenomenal acceleration, and its pinpoint turning.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
It pinpoints companies that are integrating AI into their operations and that have recently ranked high on 22V’s “earnings sentiment” score—a statistical model that measures how likely each company is to beat analysts’ earnings estimates.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
The composition is utterly still, devoid of human presence and enlivened only by fluttering harbor flags and the canvas’s scintillating pinpoints of color.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
"By identifying different parasite subtypes inside cysts, our study pinpoints which ones are most likely to reactivate and cause damage," she said.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 27, 2026
The research for the first time pinpoints a short period 48,000 years ago when Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals after leaving Africa, after which they went on to expand into the wider world.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2024
The day is overcast, with pinpoints of rain; spitting, they call it.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
He was initially tested for Lyme, and it wasn’t until a monthslong antibody study that the Bourbon virus—so far found in only a handful of cases nationwide—was finally pinpointed as the culprit.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
Authorities said they hadn’t yet pinpointed a cause for the Dove fire, which burned in the hills southwest of Sonora — a town outside of Yosemite National Park in southern Tuolumne County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The firm previously said that US authorities had not pinpointed specific concerns about its technology even as it ordered both platforms to be suspended around the world.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Though he professed to not know the mainland scene "very well", he pinpointed animation and small-scale productions as bright spots.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
Five years later, scientists in Cambridge pinpointed the difference between the protein chain of normal hemoglobin and “sickled” hemoglobin to a change in a single amino acid.*
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The bulk of its commercial pipeline is anchored in markets for AI and data centers, with Few himself pinpointing that number at close to 80%.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
It turns that data into usable information for clients, with its satellites tracking ships, providing information about hard-to-patrol regions and pinpointing sources of global-positioning system jamming, the company has said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
But then there’s like a plethora of these phases of my life that are marked on YouTube, pinpointing the different ages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
The difficulty for forecasters will be pinpointing the fine temperature boundaries that dictate where snow, sleet or rain falls.
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2026
In time, the pinpointing of control areas will become more and more detailed.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
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.
