Word Direct Answers

What does "exception" mean?

Exception: 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. Note: Often with to. That proud exception to all nature's laws. Pope.

Additional senses

  1. 2.(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.
  2. 3.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. Bill of exceptions (Law), a statement of exceptions to the decision, or instructions of a judge in the trial of a cause, made for the purpose of putting the points decided on record so as to bring them before a superior court or the full bench for review.

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