excrescent
Americanadjective
-
growing abnormally out of something else; superfluous.
-
Phonetics. (of a speech sound) inserted or added as a result of articulatory interaction or impetus, as the t- sound in sense (sents) or against (from Middle Englishageynes ), without grammatical or historical justification; intrusive; parasitic.
Other Word Forms
- excrescently adverb
- superexcrescent adjective
- superexcrescently adverb
- unexcrescent adjective
- unexcrescently adverb
Etymology
Origin of excrescent
1600–10; < Latin excrēscent- (stem of excrēscēns ), present participle of excrēscere to grow out. See ex- 1, crescent
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.
It was a prodigious white fang excrescent from the jaw of the world.
From Project Gutenberg
However, from a recessed area at the back its narrow casements and excrescent stairways are yet to be seen.
From Project Gutenberg
It was that of a man six feet high, and broad in proportion, whose majestic and spacious brow betokened realms of elysian thought and excrescent ideality.
From Project Gutenberg
Now if Vanitas had not cultivated those excrescent sensibilities by assiduous compression, if he had thought more of big brains than little feet, his tattered, cowhided friend might have trodden harmlessly on his pedal phalanges.
From Project Gutenberg
All detail was lost—all color, all outline; even the surrounding mountains seemed to be but excrescent ridges of the plain.
From Project Gutenberg
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.