The movie's director insisted on total fidelity to the book.
2
: the degree to which an electronic device (such as a record player, radio, or television) accurately reproduces its effect (such as sound or picture)
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Have a Little Faith in Fidelity
Fidelity came to English by way of French in the 15th century, and can ultimately be traced back to the Latin fidēlis, meaning "faithful, loyal, trustworthy." While fidelity was originally exclusively about loyalty, it has for centuries also been used to refer to accuracy, as in “questions about the fidelity of the translation.” Nowadays fidelity is often used in reference to recording and broadcast devices, conveying the idea that a broadcast or recording is "faithful" to the live sound or picture that it reproduces.
fidelity implies strict and continuing faithfulness to an obligation, trust, or duty.
marital fidelity
allegiance suggests an adherence like that of citizens to their country.
pledging allegiance
fealty implies a fidelity acknowledged by the individual and as compelling as a sworn vow.
fealty to the truth
loyalty implies a faithfulness that is steadfast in the face of any temptation to renounce, desert, or betray.
valued the loyalty of his friends
devotion stresses zeal and service amounting to self-dedication.
a painter's devotion to her art
piety stresses fidelity to obligations regarded as natural and fundamental.
filial piety
Example Sentences
Yet as Reardon emphasizes early on, fidelity to facts was never the point. The same dinner with friends could appear over and over in Fisher's published work, rejiggered each time to make a different point. Laura Shapiro, New York Times Book Review, 12 Dec. 2004It is a world familiar to all children, and it is this fidelity to child life that gives resonance to Hoffmann's tale and makes it an extraordinary work of art. Maurice Sendak, Caldecott & Co., 1988Chaucer's patient Griselda proved her fidelity to her husband by resisting the prodigious reasons he gave her for being unfaithful. B. F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, 1971 music with much higher fidelity than on cassettes they have never wavered in their fidelity to the cause of freedom
Recent Examples on the WebBut what’s perhaps most notable about him is a fidelity of outlook or character. Brad Leithauser, WSJ, 12 Aug. 2022 This approach to the factual reveals a fidelity to Rojas Contreras’s upbringing in a house crowded with her mother’s fortune-telling clientele that celebrated the unexplainable and surreal. Rosa Boshier, Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2022 Similarly, the pacing of the show suffers from a fidelity to its source material.WIRED, 24 Aug. 2022 Flat media will continue to exist, and this new media may face difficulties gaining traction within a digital distribution system that prefers low-fidelity, digestible, mobile content.Wired, 11 Aug. 2022 In the past, game developers could hide behind the limitations of the engines and hardware and did not need to create high-fidelity graphics. Frederick Daso, Forbes, 9 Aug. 2022 This is why the researchers from Edinburgh focused on fidelity of signal and how to best receive the wobbling photons from outer space. Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 13 July 2022 The case is fashioned from white, yellow and rose gold to symbolize love, friendship and fidelity. Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 12 July 2022 Ingram points to site fidelity as an aspect of seal behavior that SealNet could shed more light on. Sean Mowbray, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 July 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English fidelite, borrowed from Middle French fidelité, borrowed from Latin fidēlitāt-, fidēlitās, from fidēlis "faithful, loyal, trustworthy" (from fidē-, stem of fidēs "trust, belief, faith" + -lis, denominal suffix of appurtenance) + -itāt-, -itās-ity — more at faith entry 1