To demand and enforce the payment or performance of, sometimes in a forcible or imperious way.
"The landlord did not merely request rent; he exacted it from every tenant by midnight on the first day of each month."
In plain English: To exact something means to force someone to pay for it or suffer a punishment that they deserve.
"The witness was unable to exactly recall what she saw during the accident."
Usage: Use the verb exact to mean demanding something forcefully or strictly, often followed by the object you require and the person being asked. It typically appears in contexts where authority compels someone to pay a debt or fulfill an obligation without negotiation.
marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact
"an exact mind"
"an exact copy"
"hit the exact center of the target"
Precisely agreeing with a standard, a fact, or the truth; perfectly conforming; neither exceeding nor falling short in any respect.
"The engineer adjusted the calibration until the machine's output was exact to the specifications on the blueprint."
In plain English: Exact means something is completely correct and matches perfectly with what you expect.
"Please give me the exact amount you need for the ticket."
Usage: Use "exact" as an adjective to describe something that matches facts or standards with absolute precision, such as an exact replica or an exact time. Do not confuse it with "excessive," which means too much of something.
exactly
"The recipe calls for the exact amount of sugar, so I didn't add any more or less than specified."
In plain English: It means doing something with perfect accuracy and no mistakes at all.
"Please give me the exact time when you are arriving."
Usage: Use "exactly" as an adverb to mean precisely or without any variation when describing time, location, or degree. Do not use it as an adjective; instead, place it before verbs, after linking verbs, or at the end of a sentence to modify the action or state.
The word "exact" comes from the Latin exāctus, which originally meant to demand something as owed or to measure it against a strict standard. It entered English via Middle English with this sense of demanding what is due, evolving from its Latin roots meaning "to drive out."