Word.ws English Dictionary

exceptious

/ɪkˈsɛpʃəs/

exceptious adjective: apt to take exception, or to object; captious, complaining.

Adjective

exceptious (comparative more exceptious, superlative most exceptious)

  1. (obsolete) Apt to take exception, or to object; captious, complaining.
    • Tom. So, did you mark the dulness of her parting now?
      Alon. What dulness? Thou art so exceptious still.1622 (first performance), Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, The Changeling: […], London: […] [Thomas Newcombe] for Humphrey Moseley, […], published 1653, →OCLC, Act II, signature D, verso
    • And lastly, how shall many seeming Clashings, and dark Passages in Sacred History and Chronology be placed in such a Light, as may throughly satisfy, or at least effectually silence the Doubtful and Exceptious?1715, Robert South, “Sermon I. Matth. xiii. 52.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, page 17

Forms of exceptious

comparativemore exceptious
superlativemost exceptious

Origin of exceptious

From excepti(on) + -ous, after captious.

Questions about exceptious

What does exceptious mean?
Exceptious means apt to take exception, or to object; captious, complaining.
What part of speech is exceptious?
Exceptious is an adjective.
How do you pronounce exceptious?
Exceptious is pronounced /ɪkˈsɛpʃəs/.

Words near exceptious in the dictionary

  1. exceptionlessly
  2. exceptionlessness
  3. exceptions
  4. exceptions that prove rules
  5. exceptions that prove the rule
  6. exceptious
  7. exceptiousness
  8. exceptive
  9. exceptively
  10. exceptivity
  11. exceptless

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: exceptious (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “exceptious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/exceptious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.