Precision \Pre*ci"sion\, n. [Cf. F. pr['e]cision, L. praecisio a
   cutting off. See Precise.]
   The quality or state of being precise; exact limitation;
   exactness; accuracy; strict conformity to a rule or a
   standard; definiteness.
   [1913 Webster]

         I have left out the utmost precisions of fractions.
                                                  --Locke.
   [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Preciseness; exactness; accuracy; nicety.

   Usage: Precision, Preciseness. Precision is always used
          in a good sense; as, precision of thought or language;
          precision in military evolutions. Preciseness is
          sometimes applied to persons or their conduct in a
          disparaging sense, and precise is often used in the
          same way.
          [1913 Webster]

	

	precision
    n 1: the quality of being reproducible in amount or performance;
         "he handled it with the preciseness of an automaton"; "note
         the meticulous precision of his measurements" [syn:
         preciseness, precision] [ant: impreciseness,
         imprecision]

	

	91 Moby Thesaurus words for "precision":
   absoluteness, accuracy, allocation, assignment, attention,
   attention to detail, attention to fact, attribution, care,
   care for truth, carefulness, censoriousness, choosiness,
   circumstantiality, conscientiousness, correctness, criticality,
   criticalness, definiteness, delicacy, denomination, designation,
   detail, determination, discriminatingness, discrimination,
   discriminativeness, exactingness, exactitude, exactness,
   explicitness, exquisiteness, faithfulness, fastidiousness,
   faultlessness, fidelity, fineness, finicality, finicalness,
   finickiness, finickingness, fixing, flawlessness, fussiness, heed,
   literalism, literality, literalness, mathematical precision,
   meticulousness, minuteness, niceness, nicety, particularity,
   particularness, perfection, perfectionism, pinning down,
   preciseness, precisianism, priggishness, prudishness, punctilio,
   punctiliousness, punctuality, purism, puritanism, refinement,
   right, rightness, rigidity, rigidness, rigor, rigorousness,
   scrupulosity, scrupulousness, selection, selectiveness,
   selectivity, sensitivity, severity, signification, specification,
   stipulation, strictness, subtlety, taste, textualism, the letter,
   unambiguousness, unerringness

	

	precision

    The number of decimal places to which a number
   is computed.

   Compare accuracy.

   (1998-04-19)