Word Confusion: Exact versus Extract

Third person present verb: exacts
Past tense or Past participle: exacted
Present participle: exacting

Plural for the noun: extracts
Gerund: extracting

Third person present verb: extracts
Past tense or past participle: extracted
Present participle: extracting

• Precise
• Accurate or correct in all details
• Strict or rigorous
• [Of a person] Tending to be accurate and careful about minor details
• [Of a subject of study] Permitting precise or absolute measurements as a basis for rigorously testable theories

Verb, transitive:
Demand, call for, require, and obtain (something, especially a payment) from someone

• To force or compel the payment, yielding, or performance of
• Inflict (revenge) on someone

• Excerpt
• Quotation

A preparation containing the active ingredient of a substance in concentrated form

• A solid, viscid, or liquid substance extracted from a plant, drug, or the like, containing its essence in concentrated form

Verb, transitive:
Get, remove, or take out, especially by effort or force

• To deduce (a doctrine, principle, interpretation, etc.)
• Derive (an idea or the evidence for it) from a body of information
• Extort (something such as money, information, or an admission) from someone in the face of initial unwillingness
• Select (a passage from a piece of writing, music, or film) for quotation, performance, or reproduction
• [Mathematics] Calculate the root of a quantity that has a single or multiple roots

To separate or obtain (a juice, ingredient, etc.) from a mixture by pressure, distillation, treatment with solvents, or the like

• Obtain (a substance or resource) from something by a special method

To derive or obtain pleasure, comfort, etc., from a particular source

An exact replica, two feet tall, was constructed.

She was an exact, clever manager.

Magic isn’t an exact science.

Exact instruments must be acquired for this experiment.

I swear! It was an exact likeness.

It was on this exact date that he left the country.

Verb, transitive:
Tributes were exacted from the Slavic peoples.

William’s advisers exacted an oath of obedience from the clergy.

He exacts a cruel revenge against the winning candidate.

One must do one’s best to exact respect from one’s children.

Loansharks intend to exact money they lent.

Vanilla extract is a common ingredient in baking.

I found a number of recipes for making my own extract in Pinterest.

Beef extract is best when it’s homemade, but I prefer the bouillon cube for its ease of use.

She uses a shampoo with an extract of chamomile.

Most often consumed through standardized extracts, tinctures, or concentrated drops, bilberry may also discourage cataracts and glaucoma.

Verb, transitive:
That decayed tooth will have to be extracted.

I won’t let you go without trying to extract a promise from you.

He extracted a completely personal meaning from what was said.

He extracted satisfaction from the success of his sons.

We’ll have to extract the secret from him.

Lead was extracted from the copper.

The table is extracted from the report.

It was the desire to extract meaningful lessons from a few experiments that led to the disaster.

Early computers had an instruction to extract a square root.

The adjective dates from the mid-16th century and reflects the Latin exactus meaning precise.