Meaning & use
exact
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Completely accurate or correct in every detail, with no mistakes or approximation.
Grammar: Usually says precision is total; use exactly for adverb phrases such as exactly noon.
Patterns
- the exact time
- exact measurements
- be exact about something
The exact weight of the package was 2.4 kilograms.
Please give me the exact address so I do not take the wrong train.
The copies were an exact match to the original document.
verbtransitiveformalliterary
To demand and obtain something, often by pressure, force, or persistent effort.
Grammar: Takes an object; common in formal phrases such as exact revenge.
Patterns
- exact something from someone
- exact revenge
- exact a promise
The victors exacted a heavy payment from the defeated town.
She exacted a promise that he would return before winter.
The report exacted a public apology from the company.
Word forms
| third person singular | exacts |
|---|---|
| past tense | exacted |
| past participle | exacted |
| -ing form | exacting |
Common combinations
- exact figure
- The accountant gave the exact figure rather than a rounded estimate.
- exact location
- Rescuers needed the exact location of the hikers.
- exact science
- Economics is not an exact science.
- exact match
- The fingerprint was an exact match for the sample.
- exact revenge
- The novel asks whether anyone can exact revenge without losing part of themselves.
Synonyms and how they differ
- precise
- Precise stresses careful detail and clear limits; exact stresses correctness without error.
- accurate
- Accurate means free from mistakes, while exact suggests no approximation at all.
- correct
- Correct is broader and can mean simply right; exact emphasizes every detail agreeing.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: exact or extract?
exact vs extract
Extract means to remove or obtain by pulling out; exact means to demand or require payment, work, or revenge.
Practice
Choose the best sentence using exact correctly.
Choose one answer.
Exact describes information that is precisely correct, so a train time can be exact. Option 1 also correctly uses exact before a noun; option 2 contradicts exact with approximately; option 3 uses exact as a verb meaning demand, which does not fit train time; option 4 uses exact incorrectly as a verb of motion.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “exact”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.