different between excess vs wantonness

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?s?s/, /?k?s?s/, /?k.?s?s/, /??ks?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Noun

excess (countable and uncountable, plural excesses)

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.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, King John, act 4, scene 2:

     To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,

     To throw a perfume on the violet, . . .

     Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

   • c. 1690, William Walsh, "Jealosy", in The Poetical Works of William Walsh (1797), page 19 (Google preview):

     That kills me with excess of grief, this with excess of joy.
2. The degree or amount by which one thing or number exceeds another; remainder.

3. An act of eating or drinking more than enough.
   • :

     And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III:

     Fair Angel, thy desire . . .

     . . . leads to no excess

     That reaches blame

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.

Synonyms

• (state of surpassing limits): See Thesaurus:excess
• (US, insurance): deductible

Antonyms

• deficiency

Derived terms

• in excess of
• spherical excess
• to excess

Related terms

• exceed
• excessive

Translations

Adjective

excess (not comparable)

1. More than is normal, necessary or specified.

Derived terms

• excess baggage
• excess kurtosis
• excess return
• nonexcess
• refractory anaemia with excess blasts

Verb

excess (third-person singular simple present excesses, present participle excessing, simple past and past participle excessed)

1. (US, transitive) To declare (an employee) surplus to requirements, such that he or she might not be given work.

See also

• usury

Further reading

• excess in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• excess in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English wantonnesse, wantonesse, wantounesse, wantownesse, equivalent to wanton +? -ness.

Noun

wantonness (usually uncountable, plural wantonnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being wanton; recklessness, especially as represented in lascivious or other excessive behavior.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV scene ii^[1]:

     The spirit of wantonness is, sure, scared out of him: if the devil have him not in fee-simple, with fine and recovery, he will never, I think, in the way of waste, attempt us again.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, ch. 16:

     The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.

2. (countable, dated) A particular wanton act.
   • 1882, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty, Little Brown (Boston), v. 3, p. 366:

     These were simply the wantonnesses of a dishonest man.