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Precise vs Circumstantial - What's the difference?

precise | circumstantial | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between precise and circumstantial

is that precise is exact, accurate while circumstantial is pertaining to or dependent on circumstances, especially as opposed to essentials; incidental, not essential.

As a noun circumstantial is

something incidental to the main subject, but of less importance.

precise

English

Alternative forms

* (archaic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Exact, accurate.
  • *
  • (sciences) Of experimental results, consistent, clustered close together, agreeing with each other. This does not mean that they cluster near the true, correct, or accurate value.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * inexact, imprecise * (consistent) inconsistent, varying

    Derived terms

    * prissy

    Anagrams

    * ----

    circumstantial

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Pertaining to or dependent on circumstances, especially as opposed to essentials; incidental, not essential.
  • * Sharp
    • We must therefore distinguish between the essentials in religious worship and what is merely circumstantial .
  • Abounding with circumstances; detailing or exhibiting all the circumstances; minute; particular.
  • * 1806 , )
    • For although my information appears too direct and circumstantial to be fictitious, yet the magnitude of the enterprise, the desperation of the plan, and the stupendous consequences with which it seems pregnant, stagger my belief
  • * 2007 , John Burrow, A History of Histories , Penguin 2009, p. 326:
    • Second-hand but clearly from the best possible source - the King himself - [the story] is highly circumstantial , taking twenty-two pages of text.
  • Full of circumstance or pomp; ceremonial.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chiefly, in the plural) Something incidental to the main subject, but of less importance.
    • the circumstantials of religion

    Antonyms

    * essential