excrete
Americanverb (used with object)
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excretes,
present (3rd person singular)
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excreted,
past participle, past
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excreting
present participle
verb
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to discharge (waste matter, such as urine, sweat, carbon dioxide, or faeces) from the body through the kidneys, skin, lungs, bowels, etc
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(of plants) to eliminate (waste matter, such as carbon dioxide and salts) through the leaves, roots, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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excretesimple
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excretessimple
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have excretedperfect
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has excretedperfect
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am excretingprogressive
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are excretingprogressive
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is excretingprogressive
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have been excretingperfect progressive
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has been excretingperfect progressive
Past
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excretedsimple
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had excretedperfect
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was excretingprogressive
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were excretingprogressive
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had been excretingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of excrete
First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin excrētus “sifted out,” past participle of excernere “to sift out, separate,” from ex- ex- 1 + cernere “to decide, separate, sift”
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’s heard that by exposing it to the perfect cheeseball pop song — upbeat, sincere — it will excrete a natural hallucinogenic: a profitable slime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2024
They are also essential to the preservation of tropical forests, with 70 to 90 percent of their tree species depending on frugivores to eat, spread and excrete their seeds.
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2024
First, cicadas eat xylem sap, and most xylem feeders only pee in droplets because it uses less energy to excrete the sap.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2024
To mark their territory, both beaver species deposit mud piles on the ground and excrete castoreum on top.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 15, 2023
He says it helps the body excrete stress hormones.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
When water is lost, the body also excretes key electrolytes such as potassium and sodium.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2025
They discovered N. intermedia produces and excretes many enzymes as it grows.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2024
She added that researchers have yet to find a species that, when infected, excretes much live virus in its feces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2023
It excretes a sticky substance called honeydew that can collect on outdoor furniture.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
“He excretes in prodigious amounts, Karen, not seen on the earth since prehistoric times when dinosaurs let fly,” Ben said.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Even Walmart’s website sells a roughly two-pound bag of Kopi Luwak coffee, which is made of beans excreted by a civet, for $449.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2025
The EPA considers certain levels of glyphosate safe for human exposure, asserting that the chemical is minimally absorbed into the body and is primarily excreted unchanged.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2024
Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose are not metabolized by the human body so they are excreted – this is what makes them low-calorie sugar alternatives.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2024
In a final step, the researchers used a chemical process to confirm whether the excreted seeds were capable of germinating.
From Science Magazine ● May 8, 2024
To the guards who walked up and down outside, each car became a single organism which ate and drank and excreted through its ventilators.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
Camels help it spread by eating the pods and excreting them far and wide.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025
He was excreting things he had never seen in his stool before and feeling things he had never felt before.
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
Researchers have long known that mammals and birds can play a key role in spreading seeds, often by eating fruit and then excreting the seeds.
From Science Magazine ● May 8, 2024
It also is exceptional at urination, excreting the human equivalent of 2,500 gallons of urine a day.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2023
When I had finally finished excreting stress hormones, I said, “Don’t tell Babou. Or my dad.”
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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.
