exactly, adv.
(ɛgˈzæktlɪ)
[f. exact a. + -ly2.]
† 1. In a perfect manner, perfectly; to a perfect degree, to perfection; completely. Obs.
| a 1533 Frith Disput. Purgat. (1829) 85 The Scripture is for that intent left with us, that it may be understood of us exactly, and to the uttermost point. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 200 A figure like your Father, Arm'd at all points exactly, Cap a Pe, Appeares before them. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. xxx. (1647) 283 His Frontier cities..are exactly fortified. 1663 Boyle Consid. Exp. & Nat. Phil. i. 60 In the Life to come, when we shall questionless glorifie God exactliest, we shall have, etc. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. ii. 88 Glass-Tubes..exactly closed; or Hermetically sealed at the one end. 1667 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 32, I could not find it had any in places exactly darkened. 1680 Burnet Rochester (1692) 7 He was exactly well bred. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 108 On the top of w{supc}{suph} hill you see a vast prospect Exactly Round it. 1726 W. R. Chetwood Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 357 They are..exactly proportion'd in their Features. |
2. In an exact or accurate manner; with careful attention to detail; with strict conformity to rule; punctually; with propriety. Now somewhat rare.
| 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. xxi (1627) 249 Learning to construe the Hebrew into the Latine exactly. 1644 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 66, I went to see more exactly the rooms of the fine Palace of Luxembourg. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 5 ¶2 He remembered he was to sup with a Friend, and went exactly to his Appointment. 1712 Tickell Spect. No. 410 ¶1 A Lady most exactly dressed from Head to Foot. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 87 Let it be quickly dried on the outside, and exactly weighed. 1774 Chesterfield Lett. I. xlii. 135 We must..not pass a word which we do not understand..without exactly inquiring the meaning of it. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 682 The sixth part [of his revenues] had been exactly paid. 1832 H. Martineau Hill & Vall. iv. 66 He paid for his lodging exactly and regularly. |
† 3. Precisely, as opposed to vaguely; in express terms. Obs.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. ix. 36, I adhere unto Archimedes who speaketh exactly, rather than the sacred Text which speaketh largely. |
4. Of knowledge or statement: Accurately, with strict correctness.
| 1776 Trial Nundocomar 23/1, I do not know his age exactly, he is a young man. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xi. (1878) 225, I could not repeat the words exactly to Old Rogers. 1879 Lockyer Elem. Astron. vii. 240 The circumference..more exactly expressed..is 3·14159 times the diameter. |
5. a. Of resemblance, agreement, adaptation, correlation: Precisely; without any discrepancy.
| 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. vi. §2 Every event is not exactly correspondent to the prediction. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xi, I was of opinion, that two such places would fit our two daughters exactly. 1806 Hutton Course Math. I. 145 Divide the numerators by each other, and the denominators by each other, if they will exactly divide. 1860 Tyndall Glaciers i. x. 65 When this hail was squeezed together, it exactly resembled a mass of oolitic limestone. |
b. Qualifying a predication of identity, a specified quantitative relation, position, manner, time, etc.: Precisely, ‘just’, as opposed to approximately.
| 1658 F. Osborne Hist. Mem. Q. Eliz. A v, Good Books..running..so exactly the fate of Acorns. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. I. i. i. 12 Every other workman being exactly in the same situation. 1809 Roland Fencing 26 It is not a general rule to recover exactly in the same position of your sword. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 720 The seventh division falls exactly on the bend of the knee. 1823 Lamb Elia (1867) 99 Had I twenty girls, they should be brought up exactly in this fashion. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 56 The English will go exactly as if they were in England. 1858 Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Phil., Heat 329 The difference..will be found to be exactly equal to the height of a column, etc. a 1891 Mod. Exactly at one o'clock Her Majesty arrived. You are exactly the man for the post. |
c. ellipt. expressing entire approval of, or concurrence in, a suggested statement. colloq.
| 1869 W. S. Gilbert Bab. Ball., ‘Nancy Bell’ xvi, ‘I'm boiled if I die, my friends’, quoth I, And ‘exactly so’, quoth he. a 1891 Mod. ‘Then you think the letter is a forgery?’ ‘Exactly’. |
d. with expressed or implied negative, often used when the statement denied is to be replaced by another somewhat similar in effect.
| a 1891 Mod. Without exactly denying it, he led me to believe it was not true. He is not exactly a scholar, but he has read a great deal. |
e. not exactly: used ironically for ‘not at all; by no means’. colloq.
| 1893 Yonge & Coleridge Strolling Players xxxii. 292, I wasn't exactly going to send in my checks this time. 1905 A. Lang Adv. among Books 222 Though some of our modern novelists think it coarse and degrading, Hawthorne did not think so, and they are not exactly better artists than Hawthorne. 1949 M. Muggeridge Affairs of Heart vii. 125 She was not exactly pretty even then. In fact, she was not pretty at all—which is what the use of the word ‘exactly’ usually signifies. 1964 E. Ambler Kind of Anger vi. 169 ‘And you're not laughing?’ ‘I'm not exactly bursting my sides, no.’ 1968 Win 15 Oct. 16/1 Yeah, I'm scared out of my mind. The thought of prison doesn't exactly excite me. |