excess
Americannoun
-
excesses
plural
-
the fact of exceeding something else in amount or degree.
His strength is in excess of yours.
-
the amount or degree by which one thing exceeds another.
The bill showed an excess of several hundred dollars over the estimate.
-
an extreme or excessive amount or degree; superabundance.
to have an excess of energy.
- Synonyms:
- surplus
- Antonyms:
- deficiency, lack
-
a going beyond what is regarded as customary or proper.
to talk to excess.
-
immoderate indulgence; intemperance in eating, drinking, etc.
adjective
verb (used with object)
noun
-
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 a specified contribution towards the cost of a claim, stipulated on certain insurance policies as being payable by the policyholder
-
of more than; over
-
to an inordinate extent; immoderately
he drinks to excess
adjective
-
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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of excess
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English (noun and adjective), from Latin excessus “departure, digression,” noun use of past participle of excēdere “to go out”; see exceed
Explanation
Excess is too much of something, like big-time overindulgence. Eating to excess makes your stomach hurt, and spending to excess means you can't pay your credit card bills. Excess comes from the Latin word excessus meaning, "go out, going beyond the bounds of reason," like eating and spending in excess. (Not so reasonable.) Although it spends most of its time as a noun, it can also be an adjective to describe "more than is required or needed," like when excess water spills over the top of the bathtub, or those excess pounds spill over the top of your jeans.
Vocabulary lists containing excess
Much Ado: Synonyms for "Many"
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Theodore Roosevelt on "The Man with the Muck Rake" (1906)
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The Dawes Act
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In these devices, electrons are pushed into higher energy states before returning to lower ones and releasing their excess energy.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Saltwater crocodiles - known locally as Salties - live in both freshwater and saltwater and can grow to be in excess of six metres long.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
One option would be not to rebuild some of these schools at all — given the district’s excess capacity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
It also led to excess money at the end of life — a stated goal of only 1% of the respondents.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Her fingers whisk excess foundation from my jawline.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
After a few years in which mainstream culture at least made noises about retiring the worst excesses of early-aughts thinspo, the pendulum appears to be swinging back.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026
That is a good reason to avoid unnecessary wars; it is also a reason to avoid excesses of either gloom or joy as the fortunes of war shift and turn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
The UK media has long been criticised for being too intrusive, and moves have been made to curtail some of its worse excesses, while balancing the need for press freedoms.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
This is not to excuse excesses, but to point out a mundane matter of physics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
I trim the grandiloquent excesses on this and the other answer before e-mailing them to Amu.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
