What does excepting mean?
Excepting is a formal preposition meaning 'with the exception of' or 'apart from', used to single out someone or something that a general statement does not apply to. One might say that everyone was present, excepting those who were ill, or that a law governs all vehicles, excepting emergency services. Derived historically from the Latin excipere, 'to take out', it entered English as the participial form of the now-rare verb 'to except' but settled into its own role as a preposition. Today it carries a distinctly formal, even legal flavour: phrases such as 'not excepting' and 'save and except' appear most often in statutes, contracts, and officious prose, while ordinary conversation favours 'except' or 'apart from'. Though unfashionable in casual contexts, excepting remains a precise and useful word whenever a statement needs its exceptions stated with clarity and a touch of authority.
Not including; apart from; with the exception of.
"The museum is open daily, excepting Mondays and public holidays."
Chiefly formal or legal in register; 'except' is preferred in everyday usage.
Present participle of the verb 'except': to leave out or exclude from a group or statement.
"The committee was excepting no one from the new requirements."
This verbal sense is rare in modern English and survives mostly in formal or archaic contexts.
Excepting is one of the few English prepositions that is really just an old verb caught mid-action — it literally began as the present participle of 'to except' before settling into its own formal life.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of excepting
Excepting traces back to the Latin verb excipere, formed from ex- ('out') and capere ('to take'), meaning 'to take out' or 'to exclude'. The word reached English through Old French forms such as excepter, and 'excepting' arose as the present participle of the English verb 'except' during the early modern period. It shares this Latin root with 'exception', 'exceptional', and, more distantly, 'accept' (from accipere, built on the same verb capere). Over time the participial form took on an independent life as a formal preposition meaning 'with the exception of'.
Related word forms
How excepting is actually used
Excepting is noticeably formal and somewhat literary or legalistic; in everyday speech and writing, 'except' or 'apart from' are far more common. It frequently appears in legal documents and official notices, often in the fixed phrase 'not excepting' or 'save and except'. When it begins a sentence or clause, some writers use 'excepting for' where 'except for' would be equally idiomatic.
Easily confused with excepting
Accepting is the verb form meaning to receive or agree to something, while excepting is a preposition meaning 'apart from' — a confusion amplified by their similar spelling.
Except can serve as both a verb and a preposition, whereas excepting is used almost exclusively as a preposition and is generally more formal in tone.