excrescence

American  

[ik-skres-uhns] / ɪkˈskrɛs əns /

noun

1. an abnormal outgrowth, usually harmless, on an animal or vegetable body.

   The patient had moles, swollen red dots, and other excrescences all over the body.

2. a normal outgrowth, as hair or horns.

3. any disfiguring addition.

4. abnormal growth or increase.

5. Phonetics. the insertion or addition of a sound, usually a consonant, as a result of articulatory interaction without grammatical or historical justification, like the t-sound in prince or the p-sound in hamster.

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excrescence British  

/ ɪkˈskrɛsəns, ˌɛkskrɪˈsɛnʃəl /

noun

1. a projection or protuberance, esp an outgrowth from an organ or part of the body

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Other Word Forms

• excrescential adjective
• superexcrescence noun

Etymology

Origin of excrescence

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; from Latin excrēscentia; see excrescent, -ence

Example Sentences

“Do you take this excrescence to be your husband?”

From Washington Post • Jun. 11, 2020

Things didn't improve from there, with The Observer calling it "shameless excrescence" in 2017.

From BBC • Dec. 23, 2018

Its head is a sculptural confection of broken cycles, its rear a writhing excrescence of black rubber loops.

From Economist • Oct. 26, 2017

This ravishing excrescence reminded me of a shipwreck-themed Alexander McQueen show from 2002, which opened with a video of a drowning girl.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 21, 2016

Again: he is charged, as above, with adding to his apparent perfidy a superfetation of insolence, an accretion or excrescence of insult.

From William Blake A Critical Essay by Swinburne, Algernon Charles