excess

Pluralexcesses

Formsexcesses, excessing, excessed

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The condition of going beyond a reasonable limit; more than what is needed, proper, or sufficient.

   Her excess of enthusiasm sometimes overwhelmed her quieter colleagues.

   Decades of excess finally caught up with the aging musician.

   Similarsurplus, superabundance, overage

   Oppositeshortage, lack, deficiency

   Note

   The word's history explains this broad sense. Middle English exces could also mean "ecstasy", from Latin excessus, "a going out, loss of self-possession". To be in excess is to go out past a limit. Shakespeare's "wasteful and ridiculous excess" in King John is the uncountable use. The plural excesses names particular outbreaks of it, as in "the worst excesses of" Brutalist architecture.

2. 2
   adjective

   Designating an amount that goes beyond what is normal, necessary, or specifically required.

   Airlines charge steep fees for excess baggage on international flights.

   The recipe says to drain any excess liquid before serving.

   Similarsurplus

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The amount or degree by which one quantity or number is greater than another; the remainder left over.

   The accountant calculated the excess of assets over liabilities.

   Subtracting the smaller figure from the larger gives the excess.

   Similarsurplus, difference, remainder, balance

   Oppositedeficit, shortfall

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An instance of eating or drinking more than is good or sufficient; overindulgence in food or drink.

   Festive excess over the long weekend left many guests regretting the extra helpings.

   The doctor warned that habitual excess at the dinner table strains the liver.

   Similaroverindulgence, gluttony, intemperance, indulgence, immoderation

   Oppositemoderation, restraint, temperance, abstinence

   Note

   Here the limit being crossed is appetite's, and in older English the word carries moral weight. The King James Bible of 1611 warns "be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess". Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) speaks of a desire that "leads to no excess that reaches blame". Both use it without an article, as the name of a vice. With an article, an excess is a single bout.

5. 5
   nounBritishcountable

   The portion of an insurance claim that the policyholder must pay, with the insurer covering the remainder.

   The policy carried a £500 excess on all accidental damage claims.

   Drivers who agree to a voluntary excess often see cheaper premiums.

   Similardeductible

   Note

   A British insurance term, and a clear transatlantic split: what a British policy calls the excess, an American policy calls the deductible. It is normally stated as a sum attached to the policy, as in a £500 excess. Use excess with British readers and deductible with American ones. The two words name the same arrangement.

6. 6
   verbUStransitive

   To officially declare an employee surplus to requirements, so that the person may no longer be assigned work.

   The school board voted to excess a dozen staff before the new term.

   The principal excessed two aides when enrollment dropped sharply.

   Note

   An American staffing verb, at home in public-sector employment and usually met in the passive. A teacher writing in the New York Times in 2008 recalls, "In 2006, I was excessed." Being excessed removes your assigned post without necessarily ending your employment, which sets it apart from being fired or laid off. Outside the US, "declared surplus" is the safer phrase.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The amount by which the sum of the three angles of a triangle drawn on a sphere exceeds two right angles, proportional to the triangle's area.

   Surveyors account for the excess when measuring large triangles across the curved Earth.

   Calculating the excess lets navigators correct angle sums taken on a globe.

   Note

   A geometer's word, usually given in full as spherical excess. On a flat plane a triangle's angles add up to exactly two right angles (π radians). On a sphere they add up to more, and the surplus grows with the triangle's area: it equals the area divided by the square of the sphere's radius. Unlike the general "amount over" meaning, the baseline here is always fixed.

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