exact

[ ig-zakt ]

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adjective

strictly accurate or correct: an exact likeness; an exact description.
precise, as opposed to approximate: the exact sum; the exact date.

admitting of no deviation, as laws or discipline; strict or rigorous.
capable of the greatest precision: exact instruments.
characterized by or using strict accuracy: an exact thinker.
Mathematics. (of a differential equation) noting that the collection of all terms, equated to zero, is an exact differential.

verb (used with object)

to call for, demand, or require: to exact respect from one's children.
to force or compel the payment, yielding, or performance of: to exact money; to exact tribute from a conquered people.

Origin of exact

First recorded in 1525–45; late Middle English exacten (verb), from Latin exāctus (past participle of exigere “drive out, thrust out”), equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + ag(ere) “to drive” + -tus past participle suffix

synonym study For exact

8. See extract.

Other words for exact

3	rigid, severe, unbending
5	methodical, careful, punctilious, demanding, scrupulous
8	wring

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Opposites for exact

1, 2

imprecise

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Other words from exact

ex·act·a·ble, adjective
ex·act·er, ex·ac·tor, noun
ex·act·ness, noun
non·ex·act·a·ble, adjective
pre·ex·act, adjective, verb (used with object)
qua·si-ex·act, adjective
qua·si-ex·act·ly, adverb
un·ex·act·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use exact in a sentence

The master exactor smiled, and, like the rogue he was, never referred to it again.
Japan | Dorothy Menpes
Day had not broken when the Yao-Tchang-Ti (exactor of debts) was on foot.
Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China | Evariste Regis Huc
After visiting many curio stores they were safely landed at the store of the master exactor.
Japan | Dorothy Menpes
All its tribes were terrified by the steel-clad exactor of rings, and panic-struck at his mighty power.
The Norwegian account of Haco's expedition against Scotland, A.D. MCCLXIII. | Sturla rarson
Lex est exactor voluntatis, qui non superatur nisi per Parvulum qui natus est nobis.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century (Volume 1) | J. H. Merle D'Aubign

British Dictionary definitions for exact

exact

/ (ɪɡˈzækt) /

adjective

correct in every detail; strictly accurate: an exact copy
precise, as opposed to approximate; neither more nor less: the exact sum

(prenominal) specific; particular: this exact spot
operating with very great precision: exact instruments
allowing no deviation from a standard; rigorous; strict: an exact mind
based mainly on measurement and the formulation of laws, as opposed to description and classification: physics is an exact science

verb(tr)

to force or compel (payment or performance); extort: to exact tribute
to demand as a right; insist upon: to exact respect from one's employees

to call for or require: this work exacts careful effort

Origin of exact

C16: from Latin exactus driven out, from exigere to drive forth, from agere to drive

Derived forms of exact

exactable, adjective
exactness, noun
exactor or exacter, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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