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exception

[ik-sep-shuh n]
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noun
  1. the act of excepting or the fact of being excepted.
  2. something excepted; an instance or case not conforming to the general rule.
  3. an adverse criticism, especially on a particular point; opposition of opinion; objection; demurral: a statement liable to exception.
  4. Law.
    1. an objection, as to a ruling of the court in the course of a trial.
    2. a notation that an objection is preserved for purposes of appeal: saving an exception.
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Idioms
  1. take exception,
    1. to make an objection; demur: They took exception to several points in the contract.
    2. to take offense: She took exception to what I said about her brother.
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Origin of exception

1350–1400; Middle English excepcioun < Latin exceptiōn (stem of exceptiō), equivalent to except(us) (see except1) + -iōn- -ion
Related formsex·cep·tion·less, adjectivepre·ex·cep·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

omission, privilege, anomaly, exemption, oddity, rejection, exclusion, barring, expulsion, reservation, repudiation, debarment, deviation, freak, quirk, departure, peculiarity, dispensation, eccentricity, nonconformity

Examples from the Web for exception

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The Bineses, with the exception of Psyche, were at breakfast a week later.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • There was, however, one exception, and that was his friend Windich (native).

  • This piece, with the exception of a few lines, has appeared in the Athenaeum.

    Poems

    Matilda Betham

  • Never had the pinto dodged his share of honest running, and this day was no exception.

  • The exception rather than the rule, there is no reason why he should not be the racial type.

British Dictionary definitions for exception

exception

noun
  1. the act of excepting or fact of being excepted; omission
  2. anything excluded from or not in conformance with a general rule, principle, class, etc
  3. criticism, esp when it is adverse; objection
  4. law (formerly) a formal objection in the course of legal proceedings
  5. law a clause or term in a document that restricts the usual legal effect of the document
  6. take exception
    1. (usually foll by to)to make objections (to); demur (at)
    2. (often foll by at)to be offended (by); be resentful (at)
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for exception

n.

late 14c., from Anglo-French excepcioun, Old French excepcion, from Latin exceptionem (nominative exceptio), noun of action from past participle stem of excipere (see except).

The exception that proves the rule is from law: exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis, "the exception proves the rule in cases not excepted;" exception here being "action of excepting" someone or something from the rule in question, not the person or thing that is excepted. To take exception is from excipere being used in Roman law as a modern attorney would say objection.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with exception

exception

In addition to the idioms beginning with exception

  • exception proves the rule, the

also see:

  • except for (with the exception of)
  • make an exception
  • take exception to
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.