EXCEPT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does except mean? 

• EXCEPT (verb)
  The verb EXCEPT has 2 senses:

1. take exception to

2. prevent from being included or considered or accepted

  Familiarity information: EXCEPT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXCEPT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they except    ... he / she / it excepts   
Past simple: excepted   
Past participle: excepted   
-ing form: excepting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take exception to

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

demur; except

Context example:

he demurred at my suggestion to work on Saturday

Hypernyms (to "except" is one way to...):

object (express or raise an objection or protest or criticism or express dissent)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

exception (grounds for adverse criticism)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prevent from being included or considered or accepted

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

except; exclude; leave off; leave out; omit; take out

Context example:

Leave off the top piece

Hypernyms (to "except" is one way to...):

do away with; eliminate; extinguish; get rid of (terminate, end, or take out)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "except"):

elide (leave or strike out)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

exception (a deliberate act of omission)

 Context examples 

But I don't see what you can do, except get a carriage, or stay here all night, answered Jo, softly rubbing the poor ankle as she spoke.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had never questioned it, except when he read books; but then, they were only books, fairy stories of a fairer and impossible world.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Except for the girl, I am all alone in the house with him, and it’s more than my nerves can stand.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All the house was still; for I believe all, except St. John and myself, were now retired to rest.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“He must have entered through the door. There is no opening except the one pane,” said our learned guide.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It has not excited much attention yet, except locally.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Upon inquiry I was told, “that their names were to be found on no record, except a few of them, whom history has represented as the vilest of rogues and traitors.”

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Any day this month would be a fine day to travel except November 24, when Mars will oppose unpredictable Uranus giving you unpredictable and sudden travel difficulties

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

There is no Black Dog here, said the doctor, except what you have on your own back.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

No, except when she thought of her mother, and remembered where she had been used to sit and preside, she had no sigh of that description to heave.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)