Word.ws English Dictionary

excess

/ˈɛksɛs/

excess noun: the state of surpassing or going beyond a limit; the state of being beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; more than what is usual or proper.

Noun

excess (countable and uncountable, plural excesses)

  1. The state of surpassing or going beyond a limit; the state of being beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; more than what is usual or proper.
    • The excess of heavy water was given away to the neighbouring country.
    • I leaped up in an excess of enthusiasm.
  2. The degree or amount by which one thing or number exceeds another; remainder.
    • The difference between two numbers is the excess of one over the other.
  3. An act of eating or drinking more than enough.
    • And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ephesians 5:18
    • Fair Angel, thy desire . . .
      . . . leads to no excess
      That reaches blame1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  4. Spherical excess, the amount by which the sum of the three angles of a spherical triangle exceeds two right angles. The spherical excess is proportional to the area of the triangle.
  5. (UK) A condition on an insurance policy by which the insured pays for a part of the claim.
    Synonyms:
    deductible

Adjective

excess (not comparable)

  1. More than is normal, necessary or specified.
    Synonyms:
    offcut, surplus

Verb

excess (third-person singular simple present excesses, present participle excessing, simple past and past participle excessed)

  1. (US, transitive) To declare (an employee) surplus to requirements, such that he or she might not be given work.
    • In 2006, I was excessed because my program had to make a few cuts and a new, inexperienced supervisor decided that he couldn’t handle a knowledgeable older teacher so he removed me.2008 May 3, “When New York Teachers Don’t Teach”, in New York Times

excess meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

excess in Hindi

state of surpassing limits
अधिकता adhiktā, बहुलता bahultā
degree by which one thing exceeds another
अधिकता adhiktā
more than is normal, necessary or specified
अधिकता adhiktā

excess in Tamil

மிகுதி, மிகுதியான, மிகுந்த

excess in Marathi

excess, surplus
अति ati
excess, excessive
अतिरेक atirek
excess
फाजील phājīl, अतिशय atiśay

excess in Urdu

excess, redundance
فضول fuzūl
excess, redundancy, superfluity; residue, remainder, surplus, balance; receipt in excess ; waste
فاضل fāzil
excess, too much, a lot
بیش beš
excess, extra
باقی bāqī
More languagesFewer languages
excess in Bengali
বাকি baki, ফাজিল phajil
excess in Telugu
ఎక్కువ ekkuva, ఆధిక్యము ādhikyamu
excess in Malayalam
അധിക adhika
excess in Kannada
ಮಿಗಿಲು, ಮಿಗಿಲ್, ಉರುಬೆ, ಆಸುರ
excess in Punjabi
ਹੜ੍ਹ haṛh
excess in Gujarati
બાકી bākī
excess in Odia
ଆଧିକ୍ୟ ādhikya, ଅଧିକ adhika, ବୃଦ୍ଧି bruddhi, ଅତିରେକ atireka
excess in Sanskrit
अधिक adhika, उपचय upacaya, अतिक्रमण atikrámaṇa, कट kaṭa
excess in Nepali
बाँकी bā̃kī
excess in Malay
lebihan
excess in Vietnamese
sự dư thừa

Examples of excess in a sentence

  • Sand down the excess until it is flush with the surface.
  • This channel is a conduit to send the excess water back to the millpond.
  • Coolant is used in car engines and industrial processes, where excess heat could cause machine damage.

All 40 example sentences with excess

Synonyms of excess

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of excess

Forms of excess

Noun
pluralexcesses
Verb
third-person singular presentexcesses
present participleexcessing
past participleexcessed
pastexcessed

Plural of excess: excesses

Origin of excess

From Middle English exces (“excess, ecstasy”), from Old French exces, from Latin excessus (“a going out, loss of self-possession”), from excedere, excessum (“to go out, go beyond”). See exceed.

Words formed from excess

Phrases with excess

Words that rhyme with excess

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about excess

What does excess mean?
Excess means the state of surpassing or going beyond a limit; the state of being beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; more than what is usual or proper.
What is excess in Hindi?
Excess in Hindi is अधिकता (adhiktā), बहुलता (bahultā). See Excess meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is excess?
Excess can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce excess?
Excess is pronounced /ˈɛksɛs/.
What is the plural of excess?
The plural of excess is excesses.

Words near excess in the dictionary

  1. excerptor
  2. excerptors
  3. excerpts
  4. excerpts from police record
  5. excerptum
  6. excess
  7. excess baggage
  8. excess kurtoses
  9. excess kurtosis
  10. excess return
  11. excess returns

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: excess (page history and authors); excess (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अति (Marathi) (page history and authors); باقی (Urdu) (page history and authors); ফাজিল (Bengali) (page history and authors); ఆధిక్యము (Telugu) (page history and authors); excess (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਹੜ੍ਹ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); બાકી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଅତିରେକ (Odia) (page history and authors); अतिक्रमण (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); बाँकी (Nepali) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-excess.ogg.

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