excess

Etymology

From Middle English exces (“excess, ecstasy”), from Old French exces, from Latin excessus (“a going out, loss of self-possession”), from excedere, excessum (“to go out, go beyond”). See exceed.

noun

1. The state of surpassing or going beyond a limit; the state of being beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; more than what is usual or proper.
   The excess of heavy water was given away to the neighbouring country.
   That kills me with excess of grief, this with excess of joy. c. 1690, William Walsh, "Jealosy", in The Poetical Works of William Walsh (1797), page 19 (Google preview)
   … after the original Victorian station was demolished and then entombed in concrete in the 1960s, Birmingham New Street became a byword for the worst excesses of the much-loathed Brutalist architecture so widely used to reconstruct inner-city post-war Britain. July 29 2020, Paul Stephen, “A new collaboration centred on New Street”, in Rail, page 54
2. The degree or amount by which one thing or number exceeds another; remainder.
   The difference between two numbers is the excess of one over the other.
3. An act of eating or drinking more than enough.
4. (geometry) Spherical excess, the amount by which the sum of the three angles of a spherical triangle exceeds two right angles. The spherical excess is proportional to the area of the triangle.
5. (Britain, insurance) A condition on an insurance policy by which the insured pays for a part of the claim.

adj

1. More than is normal, necessary or specified.

verb

1. (US, transitive) To declare (an employee) surplus to requirements, such that he or she might not be given work.
   In 2006, I was excessed because my program had to make a few cuts and a new, inexperienced supervisor decided that he couldn’t handle a knowledgeable older teacher so he removed me. May 3, 2008, “When New York Teachers Don’t Teach”, in New York Times