accuracy

English

Etymology

• First attested in the 1660s.
• accurate +‎ -cy

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈakjʊɹəsi/, /ˈakjəɹəsi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Noun

accuracy (countable and uncountable, plural accuracies)

1. The state of being accurate; being free from error; exactness; correctness
   • 1827, Thomas Reid, Essays on the Powers of the Human Mind:

     Its professed end [of logic], is to teach men to think, to judge, and to reason, with precision and accuracy.

   • 1856, Dionysius Lardner, Popular Lectures on Science and Art:

     The efficiency of the instrument will also depend upon the accuracy with which the piston fits the bottom and sides of the barrel. When the piston is depressed to the bottom, it is considered in theory to be in absolute contact, so as to exclude every particle of air from the space between it and the bottom.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.

2. Exact conformity to truth, or to a rule or model; degree of conformity of a measure to a true or standard value.

   The jury doubted the accuracy of the witness' comments.

Synonyms

• correctness
• truthfulness

Antonyms

• inaccuracy

Derived terms

• hyperaccuracy
• overaccuracy

 

Translations

state of being accurate

• Arabic: دِقَّة f (diqqa)

  Hijazi Arabic: دِقَّة f (digga)

• Azerbaijani: dəqiqlik, düzgünlük
• Bulgarian: акура́тност (bg) f (akurátnost), то́чност (bg) f (tóčnost), преци́зност (bg) f (precíznost)
• Catalan: exactitud (ca) f, precisió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 準確度／准确度 (zh) (zhǔnquèdù), 準確性／准确性 (zh) (zhǔnquèxìng)

• Czech: přesnost (cs) f
• Danish: nøjagtighed c, præcision c
• Dutch: nauwkeurigheid (nl), precisie (nl)
• Esperanto: ekzakto
• Estonian: täpsus
• Finnish: tarkkuus (fi)
• French: exactitude (fr), précision (fr)
• Galician: precisión f
• German: Genauigkeit (de) f, Sorgfalt (de) f, Exaktheit (de) f, Richtigkeit (de) f, Fehlerfreiheit f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀκρίβεια f (akríbeia)

• Hungarian: pontosság (hu), helyesség (hu), precizitás (hu)
• Indonesian: ketelitian, ketepatan, kecermatan, keakuratan
• Interlingua: exactitude, precision
• Inuktitut: ᓇᓛᒎᑦᑎᐊᕐᓂᖅ (nalaacoottiarniq)
• Irish: cruinneas m
• Italian: esattezza (it), precisione (it), accuratezza (it) f, acribia (it) f
• Japanese: 正確性 (せいかくせい, seikakusei), 正確さ (ja) (せいかくさ, seikaku-sa), 精密性 (せいみつせい, seimitsusei), 精密さ (ja) (せいみつさ, seimitsu-sa), 確度 (ja) (かくど, kakudo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دروستی (drustî), ڕێکی (rêkî)

• Macedonian: прецизност f (preciznost), точност f (točnost)
• Malay: kejituan, ketepatan, kebenaran (ms)
• Maltese: eżattezza f
• Maori: tikapūtanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nøyaktighet (no) m or f, riktighet m or f

• Persian: درستی (fa) (dorosti), صحت (fa) (sehat)
• Polish: dokładność (pl) f, akuratność (pl) f
• Portuguese: exatidão (pt) f, precisão (pt) f, correção (pt) f, apuramento
• Romanian: precizie (ro) f, acuratețe (ro) f, exactitate (ro) f
• Russian: то́чность (ru) f (tóčnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: та̏чно̄ст f, то̏чно̄ст f, прецизност f

  Roman: tȁčnōst (sh) f, tȍčnōst (sh) f, preciznost (sh) f

• Spanish: exactitud (es), precisión (es) f, tino (es) m, fidelidad (es) f, acierto (es) m, acertamiento (es) m, cabalidad f, acuradura f, acuradez f
• Swedish: noggrannhet (sv) c
• Telugu: ఖచ్చితత్వం (khaccitatvaṁ)
• Ukrainian: точність (točnistʹ)

See also

• precision
• integrity
• exactness
• fidelity

Further reading

• “accuracy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.