Meanings
comparative more excessive · superlative most excessive
- Exceeding the usual bounds of something; too much (of amount); extravagant; immoderate.
The movie's excessive use of special effects distracted from the plot.
1 more example
"You can throw off your cumbersome disguise here," said Lucy, though the words could scarcely be distinguished, from her excessive agitation, Evelyn hastily caught up a cloak and cap laid ready for him, and a few minutes brought them into the sitting-room.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 54Synonyms: devilish, horrendous, de trop, extravagant, extreme, immoderate, intemperate, lavish · Antonyms: insufficient, deficient
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveExceeding the usual bounds of something; too much (of amount); extravagant; immoderate.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivebeyond normal limits
adjectiveunrestrained, especially with regard to feelings
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Medieval Latinexcessivus
- Old Frenchexcessif
- Middle Englishexcessive
- Englishexcessive
From Middle English excessive, excessif, from Old French excessif, from Medieval Latin excessivus, equivalent to excess + -ive.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ὑπέρμετρος, μέγας
- ὑπέρμετρος (hupérmetros)exceeding the bounds of something
- μέγας (mégas)exceeding the bounds of something
Arabic مُفْرِط, زَائِد
- مُفْرِط (mufriṭ)exceeding the bounds of something
- زَائِد (zāʔid)exceeding the bounds of something
Bulgarian прекален, прекомерен
- прекален (prekalen)exceeding the bounds of something
- прекомерен (prekomeren)exceeding the bounds of something
Catalan excessiu
- excessiuexceeding the bounds of something
Chinese Mandarin 過度 /过度, 過分 /过分
- 過度 /过度 (guòdù)exceeding the bounds of something
- 過分 /过分 (guòfèn)exceeding the bounds of something
Czech nadměrný
- nadměrnýexceeding the bounds of something
Dutch overmatig
- overmatigexceeding the bounds of something
Esperanto troa, ekscesa
- troaexceeding the bounds of something
- ekscesaexceeding the bounds of something
Finnish liiallinen, yletön
- liiallinenexceeding the bounds of something
- yletönexceeding the bounds of something
French excessif
- excessifexceeding the bounds of something
German übermäßig, exzessiv
- übermäßigexceeding the bounds of something
- exzessivexceeding the bounds of something
Greek υπερβολικός, υπέρμετρος
- υπερβολικός (ypervolikós)exceeding the bounds of something
- υπέρμετρος (ypérmetros)exceeding the bounds of something
Hindi अतिरिक्त
- अतिरिक्त (atirikt)exceeding the bounds of something
Hungarian túlzott
- túlzottexceeding the bounds of something
Icelandic óhóflegur
- óhóflegurexceeding the bounds of something
Irish iomarcach
- iomarcachexceeding the bounds of something
Italian eccessivo
- eccessivoexceeding the bounds of something
Japanese 過度の
- 過度の (kado no)exceeding the bounds of something
Korean 과도의
- 과도의 (gwado-ui)exceeding the bounds of something
Latin nimius, improbus
- nimiusexceeding the bounds of something
- improbusexceeding the bounds of something
Latvian pārmērīgs, pārliecīgs
- pārmērīgsexceeding the bounds of something
- pārliecīgsexceeding the bounds of something
Māori tuhene, inati
- tuheneexceeding the bounds of something
- inatiexceeding the bounds of something
- rikarikaexceeding the bounds of something
Norwegian Bokmål overdreven
- overdrevenexceeding the bounds of something
Polish nadmierny, wygórowany
- nadmiernyexceeding the bounds of something
- wygórowanyexceeding the bounds of something
Portuguese excessivo
- excessivoexceeding the bounds of something
Romanian excesiv
- excesivexceeding the bounds of something
Russian ли́шний, изли́шний
- ли́шний (líšnij)exceeding the bounds of something
- изли́шний (izlíšnij)exceeding the bounds of something
- чрезме́рный (črezmérnyj)exceeding the bounds of something
- избы́точный (izbýtočnyj)exceeding the bounds of something
Scottish Gaelic anabarrach
- anabarrachexceeding the bounds of something
Spanish excesivo
- excesivoexceeding the bounds of something
Swedish överdriven
- överdrivenexceeding the bounds of something
Tagalog labis
- labisexceeding the bounds of something
Ukrainian надмі́рний, непомі́рний
- надмі́рний (nadmírnyj)exceeding the bounds of something
- непомі́рний (nepomírnyj)exceeding the bounds of something
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with excessive
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
excessive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excessive
“excessive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excessive. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “excessive,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excessive.
Source: excessive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.