Crossword Genius

Capacity for Americans to join together precisely (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

literally

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'precisely' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'capacity for americans to join together' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'join' could be 'ally' (I've seen this before) and 'ally' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'liter' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for literally that I've seen before include "According to the letter, exactly" , "Exactly as stated" , "According to the precise meaning of words" , "Not figuratively" , "Actually, really" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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