WASHINGTON — The director of the F.B.I. said Wednesday that he would not be rushed into finishing his agency’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails on an election timetable. And he would not say whether the inquiry would be wrapped up by the November presidential election.

“We want to do it well and we want to do it promptly, so I feel pressure to do both of those things,” James Comey, the F.B.I. director, said.

“I don’t tether to any particular external deadline,” he said during a round-table discussion with reporters, “so I do feel the pressure to do it well and promptly, but as between the two, I always choose ‘well.’”

While Mrs. Clinton has characterized the investigation as a “security inquiry,” Mr. Comey said he was “not familiar with the term.”