pinpoint

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to identify or locate something with great precision

   Investigators used the signal data to pinpoint the transmitter's exact location.

2. 2
   noun

   an extremely small point or spot

   Mars appeared as a fading pinpoint of light above the smoke.

A compound of pin + point. The noun first referred literally to the sharp point of a pin, then to anything comparably tiny; the verb developed from the idea of marking an exact position with such a point.

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