except
English
Alternative forms
- excepte (rare or archaic)
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French excepter, from Latin exceptus.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪkˈsɛpt/
- IPA(key): /ɛkˈsɛpt/
Audio (UK) (file) - IPA(key): /ɪkˈsɛpt/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛpt
Verb
except (third-person singular simple present excepts, present participle excepting, simple past and past participle excepted)
- (transitive) To exclude; to specify as being an exception.
- 2007, Glen Bowersock, ‘Provocateur’, London Review of Books 29:4, page 17:
- But this [ban on circumcision] must have been a provocation, as the emperor Antoninus Pius later acknowledged by excepting the Jews.
- 2007, Glen Bowersock, ‘Provocateur’, London Review of Books 29:4, page 17:
- (intransitive) To take exception, to object (to or against).
- to except to a witness or his testimony
- c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iv]:
- Except thou wilt except against my love.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:, vol.1, New York Review Books 2001, p.312:
- Yea, but methinks I hear some man except at these words […].
- 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial, Penguin 2005, page 23:
- The Athenians might fairly except against the practise of Democritus to be buried up in honey; as fearing to embezzle a great commodity of their Countrey
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292:
- he was a great lover of music, and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have passed for a connoisseur; for he always excepted against the finest compositions of Mr Handel.
Related terms
- exception
- excipient
Translations
to exclude
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to take exception, to object to
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Preposition
except
- with the exception of; but.
- There was nothing in the cupboard except a tin of beans.
- Synonyms: apart from, except for, outtake, with the exception of
- 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:
- One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.
Synonyms
- see also Thesaurus:except
Derived terms
- except for
- except for opinion
Translations
with the exception of
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Conjunction
except
- With the exception (that); used to introduce a clause, phrase or adverb forming an exception or qualification to something previously stated.
- You look a bit like my sister, except she has longer hair.
- I never made fun of her except teasingly.
- 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, OCLC 491297620:
- "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. […]."
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
- Mother […] considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.
- (archaic) Unless; used to introduce a hypothetical case in which an exception may exist.
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], OCLC 762018299, Luke ]:
- And they sayde: We have no moo but five loves and two fisshes, except we shulde goo and bye meate for all this people.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii], page 131, column 2:
- If I ſay ſooth, I muſt report they were / As Cannons ouer-charg'd with double Cracks, / So they doubly redoubled ſtroakes vpon the Foe: / Except they meant to bathe in reeking Wounds, / Or memorize another Golgotha, / I cannot tell: but I am faint, / My Gaſhes cry for helpe.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York 2001, p.106:
- Offensive wars, except the cause be very just, I will not allow of.
- 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXVII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], OCLC 13631815:
- I am […] not so clear how you will be able to avoid it, except you assert the independence to which your estate gives you a title.
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Translations
with the exception that
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Anagrams
- expect
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin exceptus.
Adjective
except m or n (feminine singular exceptă, masculine plural excepți, feminine and neuter plural excepte)
- excepted
Declension
Declension of except
| singular | plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
| nominative/ accusative | indefinite | except | exceptă | excepți | excepte | ||
| definite | exceptul | excepta | excepții | exceptele | |||
| genitive/ dative | indefinite | except | excepte | excepți | excepte | ||
| definite | exceptului | exceptei | excepților | exceptelor | |||
References
- except in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN