exactly

English

Etymology

exact +‎ -ly

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzæk(t)li/
Audio (US) (file)

Adverb

exactly (comparative more exactly, superlative most exactly)

(manner) Without approximation; precisely.
Measure exactly so we can be sure it is right.
The edge is not exactly straight.
He divided the coins exactly in half.
(focus) Precisely, used to provide emphasis.
He did it that way exactly to prove the point.
- 2012, Amlynn Smith, Lost and Found (page 18)
  His hair is a semilong dull red and pulled back in a sloppy pony at the base of his neck, and his face is riddled with small freckles and grease, but out here I can see personal hygiene isn't exactly at the top of the priority list.

Synonyms

(without approximation): accurately, exact, perfectly; see also Thesaurus:exactly

Antonyms

(without approximation): approximately

Derived terms

do exactly what it says on the tin

Translations

in an exact manner

American Sign Language: SmallO@NearTipThumb-PalmDown-SmallO@CenterChesthigh-PalmUp CirclesSurface Contact
Arabic: بِالضَّبْط‎ (bi-ḍ-ḍabṭ), تَمَامًا‎ (tamāman)
Belarusian: сапраўды (sapraŭdy)
Bulgarian: точно (bg) (točno)
Catalan: exactament (ca)
Cheyenne: tó'tae-
Chinese:
Mandarin: 恰恰 (zh) (qiàqià)
Czech: přesně (cs)
Danish: præcis (da)
Dutch: precies (nl), exact (nl)
Esperanto: ekzakte
Estonian: täpselt
Finnish: täsmälleen (fi), tarkasti (fi), tarkalleen (fi), tarkkaan (fi), täsmällisesti (fi), tasan (fi)
French: exactement (fr)
Galician: exactamente
Georgian: ზუსტად (zusṭad)
German: genau (de)
Gothic: 𐌲𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰𐌱𐌰 (glaggwaba)
Greek:
Ancient: ἀκριβῶς (akribôs)
Haitian Creole: egzakteman
Hebrew: בדיוק‎ (b'diyúk)
Hungarian: pontosan (hu)
Ido: exakte (io)
Indonesian: tepat (id)
Irish: go díreach
Italian: esattamente (it)
Japanese: 正確に (ja) (seikaku ni)
Korean: 정확하게 (jeonghwakhage)
Latin: ad unguem, adeō (la), examussim
Luxembourgish: genee (lb)
Malay: tepat-tepat, dengan tepat, setepatnya
Maori: pū
Occitan: exactament
Polish: dokładnie (pl), ściśle (pl), precyzyjnie (pl)
Portuguese: exatamente (pt)
Romansch: exact, exactamain
Russian: то́чно (ru) (tóčno)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: тачно, точно
Roman: tačno (sh), točno (sh)
Slovak: presne
Slovene: točno
Spanish: exactamente (es)
Swedish: exakt (sv), prick (sv)
Tibetan: འཕྱུག་པ་མེད་པར ('phyug pa med par), གནད་དུ་འཁེལ་པོར (gnad du 'khel por)
Turkish: kesinlikle (tr), tam (tr), tam olarak, tam anlamda
Ukrainian: точно (uk) (točno)
Welsh: i'r dim (cy), yn union (cy), yn gymwys

Interjection

exactly

Signifies agreement or recognition.
So you're saying that we have only three days left? — Yes, exactly!

Translations

signifying agreement or recognition

Arabic: بِالْضَبْط‎ (bi-l-ḍabṭ)
Bulgarian: именно (bg) (imenno)
Czech: přesně (cs)
Danish: præcis (da)
Dutch: precies (nl)
Finnish: täsmälleen (fi), juuri niin, aivan (fi)
German: ganz genau
Hebrew: בדיוק‎ (b'diyúk)
Icelandic: einmitt (is)
Italian: appunto (it)
Malay: tepat sekali
Maori: koia pū
Norwegian:
Bokmål: nettopp (no), akkurat (no)
Polish: właśnie (pl), no właśnie, dokładnie (pl)
Russian: и́менно (ru) (ímenno), вот и́менно (vot ímenno)
Scots: preceese
Scottish Gaelic: dìreach
Spanish: exacto (es), exactamente (es)
Swedish: exakt (sv), precis (sv)
Tibetan: ཏག་ཏག་རེད (tag tag red), ད་ག་རང་རེད (da ga rang red)
Turkish: aynen öyle
Ukrainian: са́ме (uk) (sáme)
Vietnamese: đúng rồi, đúng vậy, đó (vi)
Welsh: yn union (cy), yn gymwys