Excess Meaning
/ˈɛksɛs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe state of surpassing or going beyond a limit; the state of being beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; more than what is usual or proper.
nounThe degree or amount by which one thing or number exceeds another; remainder.
Sentence Examples
Don't carry anything to excess.
Exercise, if carried to excess, will do you more harm than good.
Excess food is stored as fat.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The company had to discard any ____ inventory to make room for new products.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Too much ____ sugar in your diet can lead to various long-term health problems.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet, […]
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess."
— c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
"[...] after the original Victorian station was demolished and then entombed in concrete in the 1960s, Birmingham New Street became a byword for the worst excesses of the much-loathed Brutalist architecture so widely used to reconstruct inner-city post-war Britain."
— 2020 July 29, Paul Stephen, “A new collaboration centred on New Street”, in Rail, page 54:
"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 blame"
— 1667, 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"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:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The company had to discard any ____ inventory to make room for new products.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Too much ____ sugar in your diet can lead to various long-term health problems.