Excessive

How to spell excessive

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce excessive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does excessive mean?

1. adjectiveMore than is necessary, normal, or reasonable; going beyond proper limits.

Excessive in a sentence

• The bank charged an excessive fee for the late payment.

• His manager warned him about the excessive time he spent on personal calls.

Where does excessive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb excedere, meaning 'to go out' or 'to go beyond', formed from ex- 'out, beyond' and cedere 'to go, withdraw, yield'. From the related noun excessus, 'a going beyond', came the late Latin adjective excessivus, describing something that overshoots a proper limit. English took it in through Old French during the late 1300s, keeping the sense of going past what is reasonable or necessary. The same cedere root sits inside a whole family of everyday words, including 'proceed', 'recede', and 'concede', all of which share that idea of motion or yielding. For spelling, it helps to remember the double s in the middle (from the cess of excess) and the single s nowhere else, since that is the spot writers most often trip over.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, beyond)
• cess (from Latin cedere/cedere: to go, yield)
• -ive (adjective suffix)