excess

plural excesses

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

   I leaped up in an excess of enthusiasm.

   4 more examples

   The excess of heavy water was given away to the neighbouring country.

   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]

   That kills me with excess of grief, this with excess of joy.

   c. 1690, William Walsh, "Jealosy", in The Poetical Works of William Walsh (1797), page 19 (Google preview)

   [...] 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

   Synonyms: overage, superabundance, surplus · Antonyms: deficiency, lack, shortage

2. countableuncountableThe 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. countableuncountableAn 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

   1 more example

   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

4. countableuncountablegeometrySpherical 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. UKcountableuncountablebusinessA condition on an insurance policy by which the insured pays for a part of the claim.

   Synonyms: deductible

1. not comparableMore than is normal, necessary or specified.

   Synonyms: offcut, surplus

present singular third person excesses · participle present excessing · participle past excessed · past excessed

1. UStransitiveTo 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