Meanings
excise1
plural excises · alternative excize
- countableuncountableA tax charged on goods produced within the country (as opposed to customs duties, charged on goods from outside the country).
1787, Constitution of the United States of America, Article I, Section 8, The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts […] of the United States;
2 more examples
Andrew Houſtoun and Adam Muſhet, being Tackſmen of the Excize, did Imploy Thomas Rue to be their Collector, and gave him a Sallary of 30. pound Sterling for a year.
1668 July 3rd, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 5471755, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, "excise", A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom Excise is paid.
Synonyms: excise tax
present singular third person excises · participle present excising · participle past excised · past excised · alternative excize
- To impose an excise tax on something.
excise2
present singular third person excises · participle present excising · participle past excised · past excised
- To cut out; to remove.
Military censors have excised some details from the photographs for security reasons.
5 more examples
[T]hey [warts] may be lifted up with the forceps, and excised with a knife or scissors, and the wound touched with nitrate of silver.
1846, William Youatt, The Dog1901, Andrew Lang, Preface to the second edition of Myth, Ritual, and Religion, In revising the book I […] have excised certain passages which, as the book first appeared, were inconsistent with its main thesis.
In the opposite direction the allowance of 103 min. for the 83.8 miles from Waterloo to Salisbury, which has remained untouched since the worst period in the war, when it included a Woking stop that long since has been excised, was another timing that left drivers completely nonplussed at times as to how to fill it out.
1949 July and August, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 257Insanity can be cured. Personality disorders are so inextricably entwined with the heart and mind and soul that it is well-nigh impossible to excise them.
1987, Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices, page 442A person is guilty of an offence if he excises, infibulates or otherwise mutilates the whole or any part of a girl’s labia majora, labia minora or clitoris.
2003, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Section 1(1)”, in Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, →ISBN, page 14
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA tax charged on goods produced within the country (as opposed to customs duties, charged on goods from outside the country).
More synonyms by meaning
nouna tax that is measured by the amount of business done (not on property or income from real estate)
verbremove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
excise · noun, verb
- Latinad
- Vulgar Latin*accensum
- Old Frenchacceis“tax, assessment”
- Middle Dutchexcijs
- Englishexcise
From Middle Dutch excijs, altered under the influence of Latin excisus (“cut out, removed”), from earlier accijs (“tax”), from Old French acceis (“tax, assessment”) (whence modern French accise), from Vulgar Latin *accensum, ultimately from Latin ad + census (“tax, census”).
More words from Middle Dutch, Old French, Vulgar Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian изрязвам
- изрязвам (izrjazvam)to cut out, to remove
Czech vyříznout, (vy)preparovat
- vyříznoutto cut out, to remove
- (vy)preparovatto cut out, to remove
Danish bortskære
- bortskæreto cut out, to remove
Finnish leikata, poistaa
- leikatato cut out, to remove
- poistaato cut out, to remove
German ausschneiden, herausschneiden
- ausschneidento cut out, to remove
- herausschneidento cut out, to remove
- exzidierento cut out, to remove
Greek εκτέμνω
- εκτέμνω (ektémno)to cut out, to remove
Russian вырезать
- вырезать (vyrezatʹ)to cut out, to remove
Ukrainian вирі́зувати, виріза́ти
- вирі́зувати (vyrízuvaty)to cut out, to remove
- виріза́ти (vyrizáty)to cut out, to remove
- ви́різати (výrizaty)to cut out, to remove
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with excise
Cite this entry
excise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excise
“excise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excise. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “excise,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excise.
Source: excise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.