on the nose
"on-the-nose" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“on the nose” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Exact; precise; appropriate.
Corpus desk
Index EN-on-the-nose · on the nose · English
on the nose · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | on the nose |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “on the nose” in English
Rare enough to double-check
on the nose is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for on the nose in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is on the nose, spelled O-N- -T-H-E- -N-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1Exact; precise; appropriate.
- 2Unimaginative; over-literal; lacking nuance.
- 3Smelly, malodorous.
- 4Being a bet on a horse to finish first.
- 5On the lookout.
- 6Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, nose.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how on the nose appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
His estimate that they would consume 23 boxes was on the nose.
His choice of decor was on the nose, considering the theme of the party.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.