DOT THE I'S AND CROSS THE T'S Definition & Meaning

dot the i's and cross the t's

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Idioms and Phrases

Be meticulous and precise, fill in all the particulars, as in Laura had dotted all the i's and crossed the t's, so she wondered what she'd done wrong . This expression presumably began as an admonition to schoolchildren to write carefully and is sometimes shortened. William Makepeace Thackeray had it in a magazine article ( Scribner's Magazine , 1849): “I have . . . dotted the i's.” [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Still waiting for Mater Dei to dot the i’s and cross the t’s so the St. John Bosco-Mater Dei game can be officially announced for Oct.

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Murphy said afterward that Biden “knows that we’ve got to work out our compromise on our own” and that while he still aimed to strike a deal this week, the Senate may need extra time “to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.”

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When pressed further, Mohammed said authorities and Twitter officials had to "dot the I's and cross the T's" before reaching a final agreement.

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“Optum needed to dot the I’s and cross the T’s before — not after — outbidding other networks to serve veterans. V.A. made promises to veterans when it developed these new access standards and now it needs to follow through.”

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"If you're going to create your own 'woke up' brand of greenness and ethical behaviour, then you do need to dot the 'i's' and cross the 't's' a little bit," she said.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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