on the nose

Something on the nose is right where it should be or exactly correct. If you guess someone's age on the nose, you guessed just right.

When it's 5:00 on the nose, it's 5:00, not 4:59 or 5:01. A bull’s eye means you hit a target on the nose. If you guess the number of jelly beans in a jar on the nose, that means you’re exactly correct. Well done! Anything on the nose can also be called “on the button” or “on the dot.”

Definitions of on the nose

1. adjective

   being precise with regard to a prescribed or specified criterion
   “his guess was on the nose”

   synonyms: on the button

   precise

   sharply exact or accurate or delimited
2. adverb

   just as it should be
   synonyms: exactly, on the button, on the dot, precisely