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Origin and history of exact

exact(adj.)

"precise, rigorous, accurate," 1530s, from Latin exactus "precise, accurate, highly finished," past-participle adjective from exigere "demand, require, enforce," literally "to drive or force out," also "to finish, measure," from ex "out" (see ex-) + agere "to set in motion, drive, drive forward; to do, perform" (from PIE root *ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move").

exact(v.)

"to force or compel to be paid or yielded," mid-15c., from Latin exactus, past participle of exigere "require, enforce, demand, collect (money);" see exact (adj.). Older in English than the adjective and retaining the literal sense of the Latin source. Related: Exacted; exacting.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to exact

exacting(adj.)

"very demanding, severe in requirement," 1580s, present-participle adjective from exact (v.).

exacta(n.)

type of horse-racing bet involving picking the first two horses in a race in order of finish, 1964, said to have originated in New York; from exact (adj.).

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exaction
late 14c., exaccioun, "action of demanding payment; imposition, requisitioning" of taxes, etc., from Old French exaccion and directly from Latin exactionem (nominative exactio) "a driving out; supervision; exaction; a tax, tribute, impost," noun of action from past-participle ste
claim
c. 1300, "to call, call out; to ask or demand by virtue of right or authority," from accented stem of Old French clamer "to call, name, describe; claim; complain; declare," from Latin clamare "to cry out, shout, proclaim," from PIE root *kele- (2) "to shout." Related: Claimed; cl
take
Middle English taken, from late Old English tacan "to grip, seize by force, lay hold of," from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse taka "take, grasp, lay hold," past tense tok, past participle tekinn; also compare Swedish ta, past participle tagit). This is reconstructed to
scrupulous
from Anglo-French scrupulus (Old French scrupulos, Modern French scrupuleux) and directly from Latin scrupulosus "careful, exact...By 1540s as "careful to follow the dictates of conscience," hence, in non-moral matters, "exact, precise, rigorous, punctilious...
spitting image
"exact likeness," by 1880, probably based on earlier phrases such as spit and image (1847)....Uncertainty of the early forms (also spitten image, 1875; spit en image 1880, etc.) suggests it is from spit (n.1) in the "exact...
punctual
The meaning "prompt" is recorded by 1670s, from the notion of "exact, precise, insisting on fine points," including the observation...
exiguous
from Latin exiguus "small, short; petty, paltry, poor, mean; scanty in measure or number; strict," literally "measured, exact...
precise
mid-15c., "neither more nor less than, with no error; exactly stated or marked off; definitely or strictly expressed; distinguished with precision from all others," from Old French précis "condensed, cut short" (14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin precisus, from Latin praecisu
need
Middle English nede, from Old English nied (West Saxon), ned (Mercian) "what is required, wanted, or desired; necessity, compulsion, the constraint of unavoidable circumstances; duty; hardship, emergency, trouble, time of peril or distress; errand, business," originally "violence
dene
"bare, sandy tract by the sea," late 13c., of uncertain origin, perhaps connected to dune, but the sense and the phonology are difficult. Related: Dene-hole (1768) "ancient artificial excavation in the chalk-formations of southern England." By local folk etymology Dane-hole, and

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