exacting
Americanadjective
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rigid or severe in demands or requirements.
an exacting teacher.
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requiring close application or attention.
an exacting task.
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given to or characterized by exaction; extortionate.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of exacting
Explanation
Use the adjective exacting to describe something or someone very precise or strict in its requirements. If your teacher has exacting standards about spelling and punctuation, you better carefully check your final paper. An exacting person expects things to be, well, exact. For this reason, demanding is a good synonym. Friends who are exacting might let you have it if you show up a minute or two late. Some exacting people are extremely selective about what they eat, rejecting anything that doesn't meet their complicated standards of nutrition and taste.
Vocabulary lists containing exacting
Vocabulary from The Articles of Confederation
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "E" and "F"
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Letters to a Young Poet
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The process takes time and is physically exacting; the women must beat the cloth together in rhythm, and to do so they use a tool more commonly associated with sailors pulling ropes: They sing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Across the way, skateboarders do their thing on the Neighbors Skate Shop ramp, flipping and flexing, making sculptures out of their bodies in midair, while others double-dutch or Hula-Hoop in exacting harmony.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026
He was exacting, charming and merciless in equal measure.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, however, supplied the argument’s most exacting skepticism, and likely the cleanest window into which a center-right majority might land.
From Slate • Apr. 10, 2026
Curiously, Chris didn’t hold everyone to the same exacting standards.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
