exact

From Old French, from Medieval Latin exactare, reg., from Latin exactus, perfect passive participle of exigō (“demand, claim as due" or "measure by a standard, weigh, test”), from ex (“out”) + agō (“drive”).

• IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzækt/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ækt

exact (comparative more exact, superlative most exact)

1. Precisely agreeing with a standard, a fact, or the truth; perfectly conforming; neither exceeding nor falling short in any respect.

   The clock keeps exact time.

   He paid the exact debt.

   an exact copy of a letter

   exact accounts

2. Habitually careful to agree with a standard, a rule, or a promise; accurate; methodical; punctual.

   a man exact in observing an appointment

   In my doings I was exact.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     I see thou art exact of taste.

   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond

     During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

3. Precisely or definitely conceived or stated; strict.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     An exact command, / Larded with many several sorts of reason.

4. (algebra, of a sequence of groups connected by homomorphisms) Such that the kernel of one homomorphism is the image of the preceding one.

• (precisely agreeing): perfect, true, correct, precise
• (precisely or definitely conceived or stated): strict
• spot on

• (precisely agreeing): inexact, imprecise, approximate
• (precisely or definitely conceived or stated): loose

• exactly
• exactness
• exact sequence

exact (third-person singular simple present exacts, present participle exacting, simple past and past participle exacted)

1. (transitive) To demand and enforce the payment or performance of, sometimes in a forcible or imperious way.

   to exact tribute, fees, or obedience from someone.

   • Bible, Luke iii. 13

     He said into them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

   • 2018, Edo Konrad, "Living in the constant shadow of settler violence", +972 Magazine:

     Their goal is retributive: to exact a price from Palestinian civilians (and in some cases left-wing Israeli Jews, Christians, and Israeli security forces) for actions Israeli authorities take against the settlers, usually building enforcement in illegally built settlements.

2. (transitive) To make desirable or necessary.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Massinger

     My designs exact me in another place.

3. (transitive) To forcibly obtain or produce.

   to exact revenge on someone

• Often used with the preposition from or on.

• exactable
• exacter
• exacting
• exactor

exact (comparative more exact, superlative most exact)

1. exactly

   She's wearing the exact same sweater as I am!

• exact in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• exact in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• exact at OneLook Dictionary Search

Borrowed from French exact, from Middle French exact, from Latin exāctus.

• IPA^(key): /ɛkˈsɑkt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: exact
• Rhymes: -ɑkt

exact (comparative exacter, superlative exactst)

1. exact, precise

• exactheid

• IPA^(key): /ɛɡ.zakt/, (old-fashioned) /ɛɡ.za/

• Audio

  (file)

exact (feminine singular exacte, masculine plural exacts, feminine plural exactes)

1. exact; precise

• “exact” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowed from French exact.

• IPA^(key): /eɡˈzakt/

exact m or n (feminine singular exactă, masculine plural exacți, feminine and neuter plural exacte)

1. exact, precise

exact

1. exactly, precisely

• precis