What does "exact" mean?
Exact: Habitually careful to agree with a standard, a rule, or a promise; accurate; methodical; punctual; as, a man exact in observing an appointment; in my doings I was exact. "I see thou art exact of taste." Milton.
Additional senses
- 2.Precisely or definitely conceived or stated; strict. An exact command, Larded with many several sorts of reason. Shak.
- 3.To demand or require authoritatively or peremptorily, as a right; to enforce the payment of, or a yielding of; to compel to yield or to furnish; hence, to wrest, as a fee or reward when none is due; -- followed by from or of before the one subjected to exaction; as, to exact tribute, fees, obedience, etc., from or of some one. He said into them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. Luke. iii.
- 4.Years of servise past From grateful souls exact reward at last Dryden. My designs Exact me in another place. Massinger.
- 5.To practice exaction. [R.] The anemy shall not exact upon him. Ps. lxxxix. 22.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00