excise
1 Americannoun
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an internal tax or duty on certain commodities, as liquor or tobacco, levied on their manufacture, sale, or consumption within the country.
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a tax levied for a license to carry on certain employments, pursue certain sports, etc.
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British. the branch of the civil service that collects excise taxes.
verb (used with object)
verb (used with object)
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to expunge, as a passage or sentence, from a text.
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to cut out or off, as a tumor.
noun
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Also called: excise tax. a tax on goods, such as spirits, produced for the home market
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a tax paid for a licence to carry out various trades, sports, etc
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that section of the government service responsible for the collection of excise, now part of HMRC
verb
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to delete (a passage, sentence, etc); expunge
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to remove (an organ, structure, or part) surgically
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of excise1
1485–95; apparently < Middle Dutch excijs, variant of accijs < Medieval Latin accīsa tax, literally, a cut, noun use of feminine past participle of Latin accīdere to cut into, equivalent to ac- ac- + cīd-, variant stem of caedere to cut + -ta feminine past participle suffix, with dt > s
Origin of excise2
First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin excīsus “cut out, hewn down,” past participle of excīdere “to excide ”
Explanation
An excise tax is a special tax levied on specific products sold within a country. To excise something can also mean to get rid of it. Say, wouldn't it be nice if they would excise the excise taxes? An excise tax is simply an extra tax put on various products. Perhaps the most common examples are the taxes levied on tobacco and liquor, often called "sin taxes" because drinking and smoking are considered vices. There is also an excise tax on gasoline. To cover the tax, the seller will usually raise the price of the item. Interestingly, the word excise (ek-SIZE) used as a verb means to remove something by cutting it out. Good luck with excising the excise taxes!
Vocabulary lists containing excise
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Constitution of the United States
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2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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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:
He also announced a 12-month holiday on vehicle excise duty for HGVs, which the government said would help with the higher supply chain costs affecting the haulage industry which can impact on consumer prices.
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
They did that because they don’t face the same excise tax on those fees that they do on fares.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
Michigan and Ohio drivers saw sharp price drops, while the Hoosier State “experienced even steeper relief after the state temporarily waived both its excise and use taxes on gasoline.”
From MarketWatch ● May 11, 2026
“We hold that the ban is a necessary and proper means of collecting the federal excise tax on distilled spirits,” Judge Kethledge continues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
The catalyst for the change was the Whiskey Rebellion, a popular insurgency in four counties of western Pennsylvania protesting an excise tax on whiskey.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
As for why some material was excised, the reasons vary.
From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2026
Ms. McCracken has now collected the 280 excised notes and compiled them into a sometimes useful, always charming book roughly equal in length to the original novel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Washington’s analysis in this excised section pivots to a cautious optimism about large republics—at a time when the United States territory extended only to the Mississippi River.
From Slate ● Feb. 17, 2025
Enrollees who didn’t meet the requirement for three months were summarily excised from Medicaid and couldn’t reenroll until the following year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2024
She had meticulously excised each car, leaving only its shadow.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
They’re dead-set on excising any shagginess that doesn’t fit their hidebound worldview, attacking textbooks and museums that dare to push beyond a straightforward explanation.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
You will respect your stepdaughter’s position by excising her from the trust, while ensuring you don’t leave a lot of swag for your stepson to squander.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 20, 2025
In a fast-changing economy, businesses are automating some entry-level roles and excising middle layers of their org charts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
The approach helped trim the five-hour play to two hours and 45 minutes, excising the military and royal aspects to focus on the family dynamics.
From New York Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
The treatment consists in excising the redundant fold of mucous membrane, including the enlarged mucous glands.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander
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.
