exception Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a deliberate act of omission
    elision; exclusion.
    • with the exception of the children, everyone was told the news
  2. noun an instance that does not conform to a rule or generalization; the only exception was her last child"
    • all her children were brilliant
    • an exception tests the rule
  3. noun grounds for adverse criticism
    • his authority is beyond exception

WordNet


Ex*cep"tion noun
Etymology
L. exceptio: cf. F. exception.
Definitions
  1. The act of excepting or excluding; exclusion; restriction by taking out something which would otherwise be included, as in a class, statement, rule.
  2. That which is excepted or taken out from others; a person, thing, or case, specified as distinct, or not included; as, almost every general rule has its exceptions.
    Such rare exceptions, shining in the dark, Prove, rather than impeach, the just remark. Cowper.
    Often with to.
    That proud exception to all nature's laws. Pope.
  3. (Law) An objection, oral or written, taken, in the course of an action, as to bail or security; or as to the decision of a judge, in the course of a trail, or in his charge to a jury; or as to lapse of time, or scandal, impertinence, or insufficiency in a pleading; also, as in conveyancing, a clause by which the grantor excepts something before granted. Burrill.
  4. An objection; cavil; dissent; disapprobation; offense; cause of offense; -- usually followed by to or against.
    I will never answer what exceptions they can have against our account [relation]. Bentley.
    He . . . took exception to the place of their burial. Bacon.
    She takes exceptions at your person. Shak.

Webster 1913