Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Forming an abnormal or excessive outgrowth: Describes something that grows out unnaturally or excessively from a surface, often in a way that is superfluous or disfiguring.
   • Superfluous or unnecessary: Used more generally to describe something that is an unnecessary addition or appendage.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The surgeon removed the excrescent tissue from the bone. (The surgeon removed the abnormally growing tissue from the bone.)
  • Many critics viewed the new annex as an excrescent addition to the historic building. (Many critics viewed the new annex as a superfluous addition to the historic building.)
  • In some dialects, the 't' in 'often' is considered an excrescent sound. (In some dialects, the 't' in 'often' is considered an intrusive or unnecessary sound.)

Advanced Usage

• In Linguistics: Specifically refers to a sound inserted into a word without etymological justification, often for ease of pronunciation (an excrescent consonant).
  • The 'p' in 'empty' (from Old English 'æmtig') is an excrescent sound.
• In Biology/Medicine: Describes abnormal growths like tumors, polyps, or warts.
  • The pathologist identified the mass as an excrescent lesion.

Variants and Related Words

• Excrescence (n): The outgrowth itself; something that grows out abnormally or is viewed as a disfiguring addition.
  • The old tree was covered in knobby excrescences.
• Excrescential (adj): Pertaining to or of the nature of an excrescence (less common).

Synonyms

• Superfluous: Exceeding what is sufficient or necessary.
• Redundant: No longer needed or useful; superfluous.
• Extraneous: Irrelevant or unrelated to the subject; external.
• Protuberant: Bulging; swelling outward.

Antonyms

• Essential: Absolutely necessary; extremely important.
• Integral: Necessary to make a whole complete; fundamental.
• Aesthetic: Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty (as opposed to disfiguring).

Related Phrases/Idioms

• Excrescent growth: A standard phrase used in medical and biological contexts to describe an abnormal outgrowth.
  • The biopsy confirmed it was a benign excrescent growth.
• Excrescent upon: A formal construction meaning "growing out from."
  • The coral formed excrescent upon the sunken hull.

Adjective

1. forming an outgrowth (usually an excessive outgrowth)