inaccurate

Etymology

It is formed from English in- (“not”) + accurate.^[2][3][4][5] Accurate is borrowed from Latin accūrātus (“done with care, exact”), the past participle of accūrō (“to take care of, do with care”), from ad- and cūrō (“to care for”), from cūra (“care”).^[6][3][2] The OED notes the earlier unaccurate, with the same meaning,^[2] which is recorded from 1660 to 1723.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not accurate; inexact, incorrect: 1665, in a pamphlet titled Blazing Star.^[2] The sources disagree on the first date: Barnhart finds the adjective implied in inaccurately in 1669, Etymonline dates it to the 1690s, and Merriam-Webster to 1738.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to its first sense, "not exact or correct".^[2][3] Johnson (1755) noted that it was used sometimes of persons, but more often of performances.^[7] Modern dictionaries distinguish statements that contain errors from instruments or methods that do not work precisely, such as a thermometer.^[5]

Timeline

• 1660 – unaccurate (obsolete by 1723).^[2]
• 1665 – inaccurate, not accurate.^[2]
• 1669 – implied in inaccurately.^[4]
• 1755 – in Johnson's dictionary.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing a mistake; not correct or exact; erroneous: The map was badly inaccurate.^[8][5][2]
2. Not working with precision; faulty: an inaccurate scale.^[5]

Word family

• inaccurately
• inaccurateness
• inaccuracy

Related words

• accurate
• cure

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins