PRECISE Pre*cise", a. Etym: [L. praecisus cut off, brief, concise, p. p. of praecidere to cut off in front, to cut off; prae before + caedere to cut: cf. F. précis. Cf. Concise.]
1. Having determinate limitations; exactly or sharply defined or stated; definite; exact; nice; not vague or equivocal; as, precise rules of morality. The law in this point is not precise. Bacon. For the hour precise Exacts our parting hence. Milton.
2. Strictly adhering or conforming to rule; very nice or exact; punctilious in conduct or ceremony; formal; ceremonious. Addison. He was ever precise in promise-keeping. Shak.
Syn.
— Accurate; exact; definite; correct; scrupulous; punctilious;
particular; nice; formal. See Accurate.
— Pre*cise"ly, adv.
— Pre*cise"ness, n.
PRECISIAN
Pre*ci"sian, n.
1. One who limits, or restrains. [Obs.]
2. An overprecise person; one rigidly or ceremoniously exact in the observance of rules; a formalist; — formerly applied to the English Puritans. The most dissolute cavaliers stood aghast at the dissoluteness of the emancipated precisian. Macaulay.
PRECISIANISM
Pre*ci"sian*ism, n.
Defn: The quality or state of being a precisian; the practice of a precisian. Milton.
PRECISIANIST
Pre*ci"sian*ist, n.