inexactitude
part of speech
noun (an inexactitude, inexactitudes; inexactitude — uncountable) — formal
meaning for a pupil
1) (formal) Being not exact or not correct; a small mistake: inexactitude in the measurements. tree →
2) (formal, euphemism, joking) «terminological inexactitude» = a lie; a polite, funny way of saying someone has not told the truth. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and maths inexactitude is error in measuring; in old political speech «a terminological inexactitude» is a famous joking euphemism for a lie. Phrases: «a terminological inexactitude», «inexactitude in measurement».
examples
- The scientist pointed out an inexactitude in the results. tree →
- Small inexactitudes in measuring made the shelves crooked. tree →
- The politician was accused of a terminological inexactitude — in other words, a lie. tree →
- Rounding causes some inexactitude. tree →
- There was inexactitude in the old map. tree →
- His story contained a few inexactitudes. tree →
note
Very formal and rare; in plain talk «mistake», «error» or «inaccuracy». Opposite: exactitude (exactness). In maths, rounding 3.7 to 4 brings an inexactitude of 0.3.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «inexactitude» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.