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Many of us often use precision and accuracy as synonyms, but not scientists and engineers. For them, accuracy describes a particular measurement—that is, how close it is to the truth. But precision describes a measurement system—that is, how good it is at giving the same result every time it measures the same thing. This may be why even nonscientists now often speak of "precision instruments" for measuring, "precision landings" made by airplanes, "precision drilling" for natural gas, and so on.
Synonyms
Examples of precision in a Sentence
Samuel Charap, Foreign Affairs, 16 Apr. 2024
Compared with other precision missiles, the Shahed-136 drone is often less deadly, as the distinctive buzzing sound gives people time to seek shelter before an explosion and the blast radius is smaller than that of the Shahed’s precision counterparts.
—William Neff, Washington Post, 16 Apr. 2024
As Los Angeles’ biggest female hip-hop star to date, Doja chose instead to flex her precision as an MC, spitting fire in each verse without missing a single beat.
—Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 15 Apr. 2024
Doja Cat’s headlining set was thoroughly choreographed and executed with precision—but seemed tailored for the audience at home.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 15 Apr. 2024
Image There were starters of cheeseburger sliders, prepared with a precision that eludes most home cooks, firecracker shrimp and bowls of tortilla soup.
—Alan Blinder Doug Mills, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2024
The difference is very small, but space flight needs extreme precision.
—Kai McNamee, NPR, 9 Apr. 2024
Reports indicate that the cars carrying the convoy were clearly marked as belonging to the charity, but Israeli forces struck its vehicles multiple times with pinpoint precision.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2024
Historical structures buried over time may be invisible to the naked eye, the researchers said, but can be found and reconstructed using LiDAR with extreme precision, also preventing potential damage from an excavation.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 2 Apr. 2024
Bjoern Petersen, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022
And the composite in the aluminum-composite rear axle links was flexible enough to give the rear axle a disturbing springy, non-precision feel in some dynamic situations.
—Gary Witzenburg, Car and Driver, 7 July 2021
His Merrill Lynch account contains shares of companies like Sarepta Therapeutics, a maker of precision genetic medicines that treat rare neuromuscular and central nervous system diseases.
—New York Times, 20 Mar. 2021
But after decades of offshoring, finding U.S. manufacturing facilities capable of producing precision medical devices isn't easy.
—David Z. Morris, Fortune, 21 Feb. 2021
The invention challenge drew numerous tinkerers with no experience making precision medical devices for use on the critically ill.
—Washington Post, 14 Aug. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'precision.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near precision
Cite this Entry
“Precision.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/precision. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
precision
1 of 2 noun
precision
2 of 2 adjective
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