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Glite Dictionary
🎯 To locate exactly 🔬 A tiny spot 📍 A sharp tip
to pinpoint

to pinpoint

108 4.0
To find the exact place or cause of something
  • verb
  • /ˈpɪnˌpɔɪnt/
: localizar (ubicación)
  • The detective was able to pinpoint the suspect's exact location using the GPS data.
  • pinpoint the cause
  • pinpoint the exact time
  • pinpoint the location

I couldn't quite pinpoint what I was seeing.

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Examples

  • Wandell used new brain imaging technology to pinpoint the brain regions that were involved in reading ability.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The years of research started to pinpoint food residuals as the target market.

    Academic text (1999)

  • So it's hard for me to pinpoint a moment like that.

    Megyn Kelly

  • So I cannot pinpoint where that comes from.

  • Can you pinpoint the location?

    Camel Spiders (2011)

  • So let's go upstairs and see if we can pinpoint the location.

  • I think for me, I'm trying to pinpoint the exact time.

    Film Courage

  • So there are many other sectors like that that we have pinpointed now.

  • The navy would use morning light to pinpoint the fire of its big guns on enemy emplacements.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Captain Ray Harris came in and announced he had pinpointed the problem exactly.

    Fiction book (1999)

Synonyms

to locate
vsto pinpoint
494 2.7

To find the exact place of something, for example a leak or a lost city

stresses very high accuracy rather than just successful discovery
to pin down
vsto pinpoint
27 3.5

To make something exact, like a date or reason

focuses on finding or identifying location with great accuracy
to nail
vsto pinpoint
27 6.0

To find exactly when or why something happened

is the same meaning but differs in wording or style
to localize
vsto pinpoint
  • US
8 5.7

To find the exact place of something

emphasizes precise finding or identification beyond only place

Antonyms

to misidentify
8 6.5

Say a person or thing is a different one

How Precise

to pinpoint
108 4.0
to locate
494 2.7
to measure
669 1.0
estimate
405 2.6

Surface Forms

pinpoint infinitive
pinpointed past
pinpointed past participle
pinpointing present participle
pinpoints third person singular

Etymology

Pinpoint joins pin and point, like placing a pin to mark an exact spot on a map, so to pinpoint something is to find or mark it very exactly.