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to the letter

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to the letter

exactly as instructed; exactly as written. I didn't make an error. I followed your instruction to the letter. We didn't prepare the recipe to the letter, but the cake still turned out very well.

See also: letter

to the letter

completely or exactly I followed the instructions to the letter but I still couldn't put the fan together.

See also: letter

to the letter

  (slightly formal)

if you follow instructions or obey rules to the letter, you do exactly what you are told to do I followed the instructions to the letter but I still couldn't get it to work.

See also: letter

to the letter

Precisely, as in If you follow the directions to the letter, you can't go wrong. Letter here refers to the exact terms of some statement. [c. 1800]

See also: letter

to the letter

To the last detail; exactly: followed instructions to the letter.

See also: letter