Excess
[ɪk'ses;ek-;'ekses] or ['ɛk'sɛs]
Definition
(noun.) immoderation as a consequence of going beyond sufficient or permitted limits.
(noun.) a quantity much larger than is needed.
(adj.) more than is needed, desired, or required; 'trying to lose excess weight'; 'found some extra change lying on the dresser'; 'yet another book on heraldry might be thought redundant'; 'skills made redundant by technological advance'; 'sleeping in the spare room'; 'supernumerary ornamentation'; 'it was supererogatory of her to gloat'; 'delete superfluous (or unnecessary) words'; 'extra ribs as well as other supernumerary internal parts'; 'surplus cheese distributed to the needy' .
Edited by Griffith--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The state of surpassing or going beyond limits; the being of a measure beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; that which exceeds what is usual or prover; immoderateness; superfluity; superabundance; extravagance; as, an excess of provisions or of light.
(n.) An undue indulgence of the appetite; transgression of proper moderation in natural gratifications; intemperance; dissipation.
(n.) The degree or amount by which one thing or number exceeds another; remainder; as, the difference between two numbers is the excess of one over the other.
Checker: Polly
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Superfluity, redundance, redundancy, superabundance.[2]. Surplus, overplus, remainder.[3]. Intemperance, dissipation, debauchery.
Typist: Wanda
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Advance, increase, abundance, redundancy, superfluity, extravagance, surplus,debauchery, intemperance
ANT:Deficiency, failure, shortcoming, insufficiency, temperance, sobriety
Editor: Lois
Definition
n. a going beyond what is usual or proper: intemperance: that which exceeds: the degree by which one thing exceeds another.—adj. Exces′sive beyond what is right and proper: immoderate: violent.—adv. Exces′sively.—n. Exces′siveness.—Carry to excess to do too much.
Editor: Meredith
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. In morals an indulgence that enforces by appropriate penalties the law of moderation.
Editor: Sheldon
Examples
- We retired from the debate which had followed on his nomination: we, his nominators, mortified; he dispirited to excess. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Another way to make the composition is to soak over night in cold water best gelatine or glue 1 part, and the excess of water poured off. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- The shady retreat furnished relief from the garish day to the primitive man, and the opaque shades and Venetian blinds of modern civilization exclude the excess of light at our windows. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The agonies of remorse poison the luxury there is otherwise sometimes found in indulging the excess of grief. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- They would extract good from the excess of evil,[440] and presently France would fall back helpless into the hands of her legitimate masters. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The excess of liberty, whether in States or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery. Plato. The Republic.
- I had cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish to riot in the excess of my despair. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- In both cases the sterility is independent of general health, and is often accompanied by excess of size or great luxuriance. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Plants thus serve to keep the atmosphere free from an excess of carbon dioxide and, in addition, furnish oxygen to the atmosphere. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- The very excess of our misery carried a relief with it, giving sublimity and elevation to sorrow. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Nor should our citizens be given to excess of laughter--'Such violent delights' are followed by a violent re-action. Plato. The Republic.
- Elinor saw, with concern, the excess of her sister's sensibility; but by Mrs. Dashwood it was valued and cherished. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- I traced his progress downwards, step by step, until at last he reached that excess of destitution from which he never rose again. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Both arise from excess; the one from excess of wealth, the other from excess of freedom. Plato. The Republic.
- I am not so ecclesiastical as Naumann, and I sometimes twit him with his excess of meaning. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- There was no gratitude for affection past or present to make her better bear with its excesses to the others. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- It would have been more than human in them if they had not given way to some excesses of patriotic vanity. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- History can be all things to all men: nothing is easier than to summon the Terror, the Commune, lynchings in the Southern States, as witnesses to the excesses and hysterias of the mob. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In the austere system, on the contrary, those excesses are regarded with the utmost abhorrence and detestation. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Checked by Francis