Using Precise Words
Common words such as play or run frequently have many meanings. For example the WordNet database documents over 57 different distinct meanings for the word "play" but only a single definition for the term dramatic play. Fewer definitions in a chosen word's dictionary entry is preferable. This minimizes misinterpretation related to a reader's context and background. The process of finding a good meaning of a word is called Word sense disambiguation.
Read more about this topic: Data Element Definition
Famous quotes containing the words precise and/or words:
“The opera isn’t over till the fat lady sings.”
—Anonymous.
A modern proverb along the lines of “don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.” This form of words has no precise origin, though both Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (16th ed., 1992)
“Nor for my words shall ye forget your tears,
Or hope again for aught that I can say,
The idle singer of an empty day.”
—William Morris (1834–1896)