pinpoint
Americanverb
noun
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an insignificant or trifling thing
-
the point of a pin
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(modifier) exact
a pinpoint aim
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pinpointsimple
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pinpointssimple
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have pinpointedperfect
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has pinpointedperfect
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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:
These tools comb job boards for competitors’ salary ranges to pinpoint market rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Police say the information provides unprecedented ability to identify suspects, pinpoint stolen vehicles and locate missing persons.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
Warrington breached Leeds' inexperienced backline after five minutes as England captain George Williams' pinpoint kick was met by Matty Ashton, who helped find former Rhino James Bentley to slide over for an early score.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
But in Hackett’s view, it’s often difficult to pinpoint what’s driving bitcoin, since market catalysts are often very unpredictable.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Trouble was brewing, even though you couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it would be or where it would come from, just as you couldn’t pinpoint the pending rain.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Three decades after predicting the Asian crisis of 1997, one strategist pinpoints similarities between the financial contagion that spread across Asian economies then and the current AI investment boom that he thinks is a bubble.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 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
To repeat, possible Japanese intervention would reverse the flow of liquidity into global markets that Edwards pinpoints.
From Barron's ● Nov. 22, 2025
A second, higher-resolution projection targets the midbrain with added precision and pinpoints dopaminergic neurons.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2025
Her face was hard to see except for the pinpoints of her eyes, which shone like quasars.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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
With his responses, Torres pinpointed the location and was able to touch Gil's fingers.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
It correctly pinpointed the risks to markets, said Rubin Miller, chief investment officer at Peltoma Capital Partners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
Like Mollie, he was struck by the peculiar vagueness of Lizzie’s sickness; no doctor had ever pinpointed what was causing it.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Forecast models can often identify the risk of thunderstorms across a wider area, but pinpointing precisely where and when an individual storm will strike is very hard.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
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
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.
