1
as in demands
to ask for (something) earnestly or with authority
every war inevitably exacts the greatest sacrifice possible from some of the nation's best and brightest
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in imposes
to establish or apply as a charge or penalty
vowed to exact a heavy fine from any hockey player engaging in such outrageous behavior on the ice
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of exacts
Despite the toll Bug exacts, however, Coon is in exceptionally good humor—if with the blinking optimism of a new year in an unstable reality.
—
Juan A. Ramírez, Vogue, 9 Jan. 2026
Other parts are compressed by what's essentially a really big squishing machine, far taller than a person, that exacts a precise amount of pressure on a tiny metal sensor.
—Camila Domonoske, NPR, 16 Dec. 2025
Afghanistan is, once again, under a Taliban regime that exacts even more extreme restrictions than those of Anjuman’s childhood.
—Literary Hub, 11 Dec. 2025
However, mythmaking exacts costs on our understanding of the past.
—Isaac Butler, The Atlantic, 3 Nov. 2025
One game for the division (and the division’s one playoff spot)… And Seattle exacts revenge for 2019.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 6 Sep. 2025
All the other cord cutting exacts its pound of flesh!
—Brett Owens, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for exacts
Verb
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Democracy demands resistance to policies that devalue life.—
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Host Alan Cumming demands the Traitors pull off a murder in plain sight on their second night, and there’s a roundtable in the middle of the day to vote someone out.—
Verb
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This means that wealth-accumulating developers seeking to erect skyscrapers with expensive luxury apartments that feature the city’s most glorious vistas are the ones hardest hit by the regulatory restrictions that landmark designation typically imposes.—
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That lawsuit is set to continue while the state also imposes its new regulatory limits.—
Verb
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The board’s unanimous vote came weeks after pension-plan actuaries confirmed the program would be cost-neutral, as state law requires.—
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The Act requires the violence or abuse to have been a ‘substantial contributing factor’ in the later criminal conduct.—
Verb
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As the moon follows an elliptical path, Saturn’s gravity stretches and squeezes it.—
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View gallery - 12 images This recently completed tiny house squeezes a lot of living space into a compact footprint using clever design.—
Cite this Entry
“Exacts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/exacts. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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