Except (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Excepted; p. pr. & vb. n. Excepting.] [L. exceptus, p. p. of excipere to take or draw out, to except; ex out + capere to take: cf. F. excepter. See Capable.] 1. To take or leave out (anything) from a number or a whole as not belonging to it; to exclude; to omit.
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Who never touched
The excepted tree. Milton.
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Wherein (if we only except the unfitness of the judge) all other things concurred. Bp. Stillingfleet.
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2. To object to; to protest against. [Obs.] Shak.
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Except, prep. [Originally past participle, or verb in the imperative mode.] With exclusion of; leaving or left out; excepting.
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God and his Son except,
Created thing naught valued he nor . . . shunned. Milton.

Syn. -- Except, Excepting, But, Save, Besides. Excepting, except, but, and save are exclusive. Except marks exclusion more pointedly. “I have finished all the letters except one,” is more marked than “I have finished all the letters but one.” Excepting is the same as except, but less used. Save is chiefly found in poetry. Besides (lit., by the side of) is in the nature of addition. “There is no one here except or but him,” means, take him away and there is nobody present. “There is nobody here besides him,” means, he is present and by the side of, or in addition to, him is nobody. “Few ladies, except her Majesty, could have made themselves heard.” In this example, besides should be used, not except.
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