exact

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 21, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>exact</strong> &#149; \ig-ZAKT\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> to call for forcibly or urgently and obtain</p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> to call for as necessary or desirable</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"The choice between forgiveness and revenge is an age-old tale. Amy March burned Jo March's manuscript out of spite after her older sister wasn't sympathetic to her in Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women.' Stephen King's Carrie used her telekinetic powers to <em>exact</em> revenge on her high school classmates who bullied her." — <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/2020/03/12/des-moines-storytellers-iowa-stories-forgiveness-and-revenge-april-21/5005089002/">Shelby Fleig and Anna Spoerre, <em>The Des Moines (Iowa) Register</em>, 12 Mar. 2020</a></p> <p>"Based on the book by writer Alex Kershaw, 'The Liberator' depicts how the Thunderbirds staggered through a withering 500-plus days of combat in less than two years, <em>exacting</em> a terrible toll on Axis troops while suffering nearly 10,500 casualties during the course of the war." — <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-history-netflixs-liberator-180976269/">David Kindy, <em>Smithsonian</em>, 11 Nov. 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Exact</em> derives from a form of the Latin verb <em>exigere</em>, meaning "to drive out, to demand, or to measure." (Another descendant of <em>exigere</em> is the word <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exigent">exigent</a></em>, which can mean "demanding" or "requiring immediate attention.") <em>Exigere</em>, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix <em>ex-</em> with the verb <em>agere</em>, meaning "to drive." <em>Agere</em> has been a prolific source of words for