exactly vs about vs approximately
Definitions
adverb
- indicating exactness or preciseness
- in a precise manner
- just as it should be
Examples
If there was any hope of holding on to even a shred of her dwindling self-respect, she should do exactly what she knew Margo would do—close the laptop, take her de-scrunchied, perfumed, and nearly thonged self down to the nearest club, pick up the first passably good-looking stranger who asked her to dance, and bring him back to the apartment for some safe but anonymous sex.
Who is willing to believe that Alexandria is exactly 5000 stadia from Syene, whatever the value of the stadium?
A lot of us are curious to know exactly what the navy has been told to do.
Definitions
adverb
- used of movement to or among many different places or in no particular direction
- in rotation or succession
- in or to a reversed position or direction
- (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct
- (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
adjective
- on the move
Examples
If you wonder about ‘furphy’, as I did, here's a gloss and explanation.
The aircraft descended into a wetland area and had since been forgotten about as it sank below the surface.
As I did at FIAC, I selected 18 galleries and asked their most anglophonic expert to pick an image and talk about it for under two minutes.
