excrete
Americanverb (used with object)
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:
The body can then easily excrete the metals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 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
A handful of labs are studying bats from other genera, and initial findings suggest they have varying abilities to excrete and transmit the pandemic virus.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 4, 2023
He says it helps the body excrete stress hormones.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
While slurping, the insect excretes a substance that weakens the tree's defenses and causes damage that impedes the flow of nutrients between root and crown, he said.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2024
It then excretes a sticky, sugary waste called honeydew that attracts insects and a form of sooty mold that can finish off the already weakened plants, posing a danger to crops and native trees.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
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
This is because the body excretes it too quickly to metabolize it, too tough even for the bacteria in our guts to break it down.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2023
“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
“Most of it doesn’t get metabolized, meaning that we don’t extract energy from it, and it passes through and is excreted in the stool,” Fetter said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
After pets take these medications, the active compounds pass through their bodies and are excreted in feces.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 22, 2026
For one, there are many different kinds that all look different, and evidence of parasitic infection can be excreted as parasitic larvae, which are microscopic.
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
They also showed that about 30% of the seeds excreted by woodlice and earwigs remained viable.
From Science Magazine ● May 8, 2024
Occasionally, they excreted live worms with their bloody stools.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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
They lie on and burrow under the sand all day, sucking, digesting, and excreting sediment, consuming bacteria and other organics.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 26, 2024
I would have felt nervous excreting stress hormones in front of someone else, but not Sohrab.
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.
