excess
an extreme or excessive amount or degree; superabundance: to have an excess of energy.
a going beyond what is regarded as customary or proper: to talk to excess.
immoderate indulgence; intemperance in eating, drinking, etc.
more than or above what is necessary, usual, or specified; extra: a charge for excess baggage; excess profits.
to dismiss, demote, transfer, or furlough (an employee), especially as part of a mass layoff.
Origin of excess
1Other words for excess
Opposites for excess
Words that may be confused with excess
Words Nearby excess
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use excess in a sentence
Let the excess liquid evaporate away by bringing the substance to a boil or a simmer until the desired consistency is reached.
Sauce, gravy or stew too thin? We’ve got 3 ways to fix that. | Aaron Hutcherson | February 12, 2021 | Washington PostWyden seems to have been persuaded that the best way to contain the possible excesses of speech on the internet was the influence of market forces.
Twenty-Six Words Created the Internet. What Will It Take to Save It? | Stephen Engelberg | February 9, 2021 | ProPublicaWhile these wake-up calls to our own waste are certainly effective, many of the artists seem more interested in using excess as a way of expressing reverence for nature.
Baltimore exhibition of outsider art celebrates nature’s ‘excess’ with a wake-up call about pollution | Kelsey Ables | February 8, 2021 | Washington PostWhen town officials and lawmakers try to walk back the excess, the unions hold their ground.
How the Police Bank Millions Through Their Union Contracts | by Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press, and Agnes Chang, Jeff Kao and Agnel Philip, ProPublica | February 8, 2021 | ProPublicaIt’s a Super Bowl being conducted without its usual excesses.
Super spreader Sunday? Experts worry Super Bowl could trigger coronavirus explosion | Brittany Shammas, Fenit Nirappil, Mark Maske | February 5, 2021 | Washington Post
Shake off any excess flour and gently place in the heated oil.
Make Carla Hall’s Crispy Shallot Green Bean Casserole | Carla Hall | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFold over the edges and crimp, then trim any remaining excess.
Following the pre-recession excess of T-Pain and Akon, hip-hop was in search of greater authenticity.
Future Makes Us Rethink Everything We Thought We Knew About Rap Artists | Luke Hopping | December 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Senate Intelligence Committee report says they secured a contract with the CIA in 2006 valued “in excess of $180 million.”
The Luxury Homes That Torture and Your Tax Dollars Built | Michael Daly | December 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBy the way, killjoys, American charitable giving goes up by 42 percent during this season of crass materialistic greed and excess.
Victor was proud of his achievement, and went about recommending it and urging every one to partake of it to excess.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinThe authorization borne by him was very extraordinary and had a great excess of the ordinary warrants.
(d) excess balances may, at the convenience of each federal reserve bank, remain deposited with the gold settlement fund.
Readings in Money and Banking | Chester Arthur PhillipsTo talk of an excess of labor, or an inability to employ it, in such a country as Ireland, is to insult the general understanding.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyAll applications, including therein any on which action may have been deferred because in excess of the aforesaid 10 per cent.
Readings in Money and Banking | Chester Arthur Phillips
British Dictionary definitions for excess
the state or act of going beyond normal, sufficient, or permitted limits
an immoderate or abnormal amount, number, extent, or degree too much or too many: an excess of tolerance
the amount, number, extent, or degree by which one thing exceeds another
chem a quantity of a reagent that is greater than the quantity required to complete a reaction: add an excess of acid
overindulgence or intemperance
insurance, mainly British a specified contribution towards the cost of a claim, stipulated on certain insurance policies as being payable by the policyholder
in excess of of more than; over
to excess to an inordinate extent; immoderately: he drinks to excess
more than normal, necessary, or permitted; surplus: excess weight
payable as a result of previous underpayment: excess postage; an excess fare for a railway journey
Origin of excess
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with excess
see carry too far (to excess); in excess of.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse