Meanings
plural excrescences
- Something, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else.
Perhaps he meant that towns are after all excrescences, grey fluxions, where men, hurrying to find one another, have lost themselves.
1907 April, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter XXXIII, in The Longest Journey, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part III (Wiltshire), page 3363 more examples
I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl’s hair must be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-morrow: and I see others who have far too much of the excrescence—that tall girl, tell her to turn round.
1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter VII, in Jane Eyre. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLCThe squirrels were in hiding. One only he saw,—a sleek gray fellow, flattened against a gray dead limb so that he seemed a part of it, a woody excrescence upon the wood itself.
1903 July, Jack London, “The Sounding of the Call”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 219It is taken for granted that a beggar does not 'earn' his living, as a bricklayer or a literary critic 'earns' his. He is a mere social excrescence, tolerated because we live in a humane age, but essentially despicable.
1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXXI, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, page 234 - A disfiguring or unwanted mark or adjunct.
Being bussum buddies, the two friends often communicated with mere exchange of psychic forces, verbal communication having been rendered unnecessary excrescence.
1982 December 11, Andrea Loewenstein, “The Joys of Community or Holiday-itis Strikes Back”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 21, page 12 - human sciencesThe epenthesis of a consonant, e.g., warmth as [ˈwɔrmpθ] (adding a [p] between [m] and [θ]), or -t (Etymology 2).
Synonyms: vyanjanabhakti · Antonyms: svarabhakti, anaptyxis
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe epenthesis of a consonant, e.g., warmth as [ˈwɔrmpθ] (adding a [p] between [m] and [θ]), or -t (Etymology 2).
More synonyms by meaning
nounsomething that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinexcrescentia“abnormal growths”
- Englishexcrescence
From Middle English, early 15th century, in sense “(action of) growing out (of something else)”. Borrowed from Latin excrescentia (“abnormal growths”), from excrescentem, from excrēscere, from ex- (“out”) (English ex-) + crēscere (“to grow”) (English crescent). Sense of “abnormal growth” from 1570s, from earlier excrescency (1540s in this sense).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian израстък, епентеза
- израстък (izrastăk)something, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
- епентеза (epenteza)epenthesis of a consonant
Catalan excrescència
- excrescènciasomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Dutch uitwas, exces
- uitwassomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
- excessomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Finnish kasvannainen, kohouma
- kasvannainensomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
- kohoumasomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
French excès, excroissance
- excèssomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
- excroissancesomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Hungarian kinövés, inetimologikus mássalhangzó (betoldás)
- kinövéssomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
- inetimologikus mássalhangzó (betoldás)epenthesis of a consonant
Italian escrescenza
- escrescenzasomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Latin tūber
- tūbersomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Māori pukuwhenewhene
- pukuwhenewhenesomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Persian آگنه
- آگنه (āgne)something, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Polish narośl, epenteza samogłosek
- naroślsomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
- epenteza samogłosekepenthesis of a consonant
Portuguese excrescência
- excrescênciasomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Russian отро́сток, нарост
- отро́сток (otróstok)something, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
- нарост (narost)something, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Spanish excrecencia
- excrecenciasomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Swedish utväxt
- utväxtsomething, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with excrescence
Cite this entry
excrescence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excrescence
“excrescence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excrescence. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “excrescence,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excrescence.
Source: excrescence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.