just so

Adverb

just so (not comparable)

1. In the precise manner indicated.
   • Near-synonym: even so (archaic)
   • If you don’t turn the knob just so, the door won’t open.

   Synonyms:

   even so

2. (Arranged) very neatly and tidily.
   • Jason, 14, who arrived more than two years ago after drifting through five foster homes and a psychiatric hospital, is showing visitors with evident pride how neatly the bookshelves in the living room are kept, how the sneakers in the mud room are lined up just so.2002 March 3, Lisa W. Foderaro, “When There's No Place Else”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015
   • “Everything has to be just so,” he [Lonnie Rose] said. “Being in a concrete box for a long time makes you even more O.C.D.”2015 August 3, Erica Goode, “Solitary Confinement: Punished for Life”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Aug 2015
3. To the same extent.
   • Poor in quality are these classes [of poetry], just so rich in the number of songs and melodies are the other groups which constitute the wedding-songs proper.1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 367
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see just, so
   • Your dog is just so friendly.
   • I like any flower, just so as it’s real.