excrete

[ik-skreet]

See more synonyms for excrete on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), ex·cret·ed, ex·cret·ing.

to separate and eliminate from an organic body; separate and expel from the blood or tissues, as waste or harmful matter.

Origin of excrete

1610–20; < Latin excrētus (past participle of excernere to sift out, separate), equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + crē- (perfect stem of cernere to sift) + -tus past participle suffix

Related formsex·cret·er, nounex·cre·tive, adjectiveun·ex·cret·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for excrete

secrete, ejaculate, eject, expel, leak, void, remove, evacuate, perspire, produce, eliminate, pass, exhale, urinate, exude, emanate, sweat, exudate, defecate, egest

Examples from the Web for excrete

Contemporary Examples of excrete

Ebola causes the body to excrete fluids that are teeming with the virus.
New York Nurses Are the Calm in Ebola’s Storm
Abby Haglage
October 21, 2014
Hormonal excesses in the blood require a clean and healthy liver to metabolize and excrete.
Can Food Make You Infertile? Foods to Eat and Avoid
Anneli Rufus
December 9, 2011

Historical Examples of excrete

The lungs also excrete a large proportion of waste matter from the system.
Popular Education
Ira Mayhew
Certain Coccideae also excrete honey-dew, especially in the tropics.
Disease in Plants
H. Marshall Ward
This water had been obtained from a well into which the excrete from a typhus patient had percolated from a privy.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume II
Arnold Cooley
Worms, amphibia, fishes, and snails form another group which excrete much less carbonic acid.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume II
Arnold Cooley
Careful watching showed that the plant-lice after this interval did not excrete the sweet fluid.
A Book of Natural History
Various

British Dictionary definitions for excrete

excrete

verb

to discharge (waste matter, such as urine, sweat, carbon dioxide, or faeces) from the body through the kidneys, skin, lungs, bowels, etc
(of plants) to eliminate (waste matter, such as carbon dioxide and salts) through the leaves, roots, etc

Derived Formsexcreter, nounexcretion, nounexcretive or excretory, adjective

Word Origin for excrete

C17: from Latin excernere to separate, discharge, from cernere to sift

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 excrete

1610s, from Latin excretus, past participle of excernere (see excrement). Related: Excreted; excreting.

excrete in Medicine

excrete

[ĭk-skrēt′]

To eliminate waste material from the body.