excrescency · noun — an excrescent state or condition; the quality or fact of growing out of something; abnormal or excessive development. It carries an Arena rating of 1395, earned across 62 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, excrescency ranks #1,045 of 17,130 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,176 of 17,201 for Funniest Words, #1,597 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #2,352 of 17,205 for The Improbable.
Why “excrescency” is a great word
EXCRESCENCY — [Noun] An abnormal or excessive outgrowth from a body or surface, or the condition of having such a growth. From excrescent (from Latin excrescere, "to grow out", from ex- ("out") + crescere ("to grow")) + the noun-forming suffix -cy. Unlike "excrescence," which names the physical protuberance, or "growth," which suggests neutral development, excrescency emphasizes the morbid condition of aberrant, superfluous proliferation. It is the keloid scar rising like a waxen ridge on skin, the bureaucratic appendix added to a simple law, and the conceptual bloat in a once-elegant argument—a testament to nature's relentless, unguided urge to proliferate, curdling into mere surplus.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From excrescent + -cy.
noun
- An excrescent state or condition; the quality or fact of growing out of something; abnormal or excessive development
- An exuberant outburst; an extravagance.
- An excrescence, and excrescent growth; an outgrowth.e.g.“And having enquir'd into the History of Cork, I find it reckoned as an excrescency of the bark of a certain Tree […].” — 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, section XVIII:
- An abnormal, morbid, or unsightly outgrowth time for RIP final always.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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