Word.ws English Dictionary

by the numbers

by the numbers prepositional phrase: exactly, precisely, or in a formulaic way.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) exactly, precisely, or in a formulaic way.

Synonyms of by the numbers

Forms of by the numbers

alternative formby-the-numbers

Origin of by the numbers

The origin of this phrase goes back to the American Revolutionary War where a book containing numbered positions for rifle and bayonet practice was used to train soldiers. In the book, each diagram was numbered.

Questions about by the numbers

What does by the numbers mean?
By the numbers means exactly, precisely, or in a formulaic way.
What part of speech is by the numbers?
By the numbers is a prepositional phrase.

Words near by the numbers in the dictionary

  1. by the living jingo
  2. by the looks of things
  3. by the minute
  4. by the moment
  5. by the name of
  6. by the numbers
  7. by the piece
  8. by the rood
  9. by the same token
  10. by the score
  11. by the skin of one's teeth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by the numbers (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-by the numbers.ogg.

Cite this entry: “by the numbers.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/by_the_numbers. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.