TO THE LETTER

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does to the letter mean? 

• TO THE LETTER (adverb)
  The adverb TO THE LETTER has 1 sense:

1. in every detail

  Familiarity information: TO THE LETTER used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TO THE LETTER (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In every detail

Synonyms:

just right; to a T; to perfection; to the letter

Context example:

the new house suited them to a T

 Context examples 

She carried out every one of my injunctions to the letter, and certainly without her co-operation you would not have that paper in your coat-pocket.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Alleyne turned to the letter, and, as his eyes rested upon it, his face turned pale and a cry of surprise and grief burst from his lips.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I knew well—better perhaps than he thought, as far as my poor mother was concerned—and I obeyed him to the letter.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It's old man Challenger's show and we are here by his good will, so it would be rotten bad form if we didn't follow his instructions to the letter.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If it was fair, that was in the bond, and I stand to the letter of my bond, Shylock.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The cruelty of Mrs. Jennings no language, within her reach in her moments of happiest eloquence, could have expressed; and now she could reproach her only by the tears which streamed from her eyes with passionate violence—a reproach, however, so entirely lost on its object, that after many expressions of pity, she withdrew, still referring her to the letter of comfort.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass something from the hollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain's, which closed upon it instantly.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Lady Catherine was extremely indignant on the marriage of her nephew; and as she gave way to all the genuine frankness of her character in her reply to the letter which announced its arrangement, she sent him language so very abusive, especially of Elizabeth, that for some time all intercourse was at an end.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

In the morning I obeyed Holmes’s injunctions to the letter.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)