excessive
/ɪkˈsɛsɪv/adjective
excessive is spelled E-X-C-E-S-S-I-V-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,878th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, excessive means “Exceeding the usual bounds of something; too much (of amount); extravagant; immoderate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in excessive?
| Letters | 9: E-X-C-E-S-S-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,878th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is excessive?
Excessive appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,878th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce excessive?
- /ɪkˈsɛsɪv/
Excessive has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-excessive.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-excessive.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with excessive
Sounds like: exessive (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of excessive
- more excessive comparative
- most excessive superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does excessive mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Exceeding the usual bounds of something; too much (of amount); extravagant; immoderate.
The movie's excessive use of special effects distracted from the plot.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Excessive in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense exceeding the bounds of something:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does excessive come from?
From Middle English excessive, excessif, from Old French excessif, from Medieval Latin excessivus, equivalent to excess + -ive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).