imprecise
part of speech
adjective (imprecise, more imprecise); noun «imprecision»
meaning for a pupil
1) Not exact or accurate; rough or vague. tree →
2) Not clearly expressed: imprecise instructions. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths and science, an imprecise measurement is not exact enough (measuring a pencil with steps, not a ruler). Estimates are imprecise on purpose. In writing, imprecise instructions confuse the reader. Phrases: imprecise measurement, imprecise language, rather imprecise.
examples
- Measuring with your hand span is imprecise. tree →
- «About a hundred» is an imprecise answer; the exact answer is 97. tree →
- The instructions were imprecise, so we built the model wrong. tree →
- Old maps were imprecise about the size of countries. tree →
- Use a ruler; guessing is too imprecise. tree →
- His description of the thief was imprecise. tree →
note
Opposite: «precise». In maths, precise means exact detail (3.14159) and accurate means close to the true value; an imprecise answer can still be roughly right (π ≈ 3). Estimates and rounding make numbers deliberately imprecise.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «imprecise» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.