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Excise takes part of its meaning from the prefix ex-, "out". A writer may excise long passages of a novel to reduce it to a reasonable length, or a film director may excise a scene that might give offense. A surgeon may excise a large cancerous tumor, or make a tiny excision to examine an organ's tissue. Excise is also a noun, meaning a tax paid on something manufactured and sold in the U.S. Much of what consumers pay for tobacco or alcohol products go to cover the excise taxes that the state and federal government charge the manufacturers. But it's only accidental that this noun is spelled like the verb, since it comes from a completely different source.
Examples of excise in a Sentence
Justin Davidson, Curbed, 4 June 2026
Da Messina’s Annunciation famously excises the angel Gabriel, while Ghirri’s version further edits the event by also obscuring the Virgin herself.
—James Quandt, Artforum, 2 June 2026
To find out more, the researchers humanely excised additional fragments from the feet, main body and tentacles of the marine animals and ran a number of lab experiments in untreated seawater.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 28 May 2026
But whatever one thinks of Massie’s anti-Israel activism and anti-Jewish insinuations, neither was the reason he was excised.
—Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 20 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for excise
Cite this Entry
“Excise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excise. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
excise
1 of 2 noun
excise
2 of 2 verb
Noun
from obsolete Dutch excijs "tax," probably derived from early French assise "assessment"
Verb
from Latin excisus, past participle of excidere "to cut out," from ex- "out, out of" and caedere "to cut"
Medical Definition
Legal Definition
excise
noun
