kid-glove precision
- noun
- The watchmaker handled the tiny gears with kid-glove precision.
Examples
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The surgeon operated with kid-glove precision.
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He edited the manuscript with kid-glove precision, catching even the smallest errors.
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Every operation in the laboratory requires kid-glove precision to avoid contamination.
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Her kid-glove precision in crafting jewelry amazed everyone.
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Every operation in the laboratory requires kid-glove precision to avoid contamination.
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He edited the manuscript with kid-glove precision, catching even the smallest errors.
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The watchmaker handled the tiny gears with kid-glove precision.
Synonyms
The quality of being exact and giving the same result when repeated
A quality of being very careful about small details
Careful attention to very small details
Being very careful and doing every small part of a job well
Antonyms
How Precise
Surface Forms
Morphology
kid-glove + precision
The noun 'precision' is transparent, but the modifier 'kid-glove' is an idiomatic descriptor whose meaning (‘very gentle, delicate, careful’) depends on knowledge of the idiom rather than a straightforward composition of 'kid' + 'glove'. A B1 learner who only knows the literal words will get a partial cue from 'glove' (softness/handling) but is unlikely to infer the exact evaluative sense without prior exposure or cultural knowledge, so the overall phrase is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The phrase kid-glove precision comes from soft gloves made of young goat skin called kid that people used to handle fragile things. Because those gloves let you touch things very gently, 'kid-glove' came to mean 'very careful', so kid-glove precision means doing work very carefully and exactly.