What does excised mean?
"Excised" is the past tense and past participle of "excise," a formal verb meaning to cut out or remove something completely. It appears most often in medical contexts, where a surgeon may have excised a tumor, cyst, or section of tissue, implying careful, complete surgical removal rather than mere extraction. The verb also has an editorial sense: passages deemed offensive, inaccurate, or irrelevant can be excised from a manuscript, transcript, or film before release. Both senses share a connotation of deliberate, precise elimination — what is excised is gone entirely, cleanly, and usually for good reason. The word derives from Latin "excidere," formed from "ex-" (out) and "caedere" (to cut), the same root that gave English "incise," "precise," and "decide." Because of its clinical precision, writers favor it when they want to convey surgical thoroughness, whether operating on a patient or on a text.
verbPast tense and past participle of excise: to cut out or remove tissue, a part, or a passage entirely, especially by surgery or deliberate deletion.
- To remove tissue, a growth, or a body part surgically by cutting it out.
- To delete or expunge a passage, clause, or item from a text, film, or document.
"The surgeon excised the tumor along with a small margin of healthy tissue."
"The dermatologist excised the mole with a small scalpel and closed the wound with two stitches."
"Several controversial passages were excised from the memoir before publication."
When surgeons excise a tumor, they're using a word whose Latin root, caedere, also gives us 'decide' — literally to cut off other possibilities.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of excised
"Excised" comes from the Latin verb "excidere," meaning to cut out, formed from "ex-" (out) and "caedere" (to cut, slay). English adopted the verb "excise" in the sixteenth century, initially in surgical and general cutting senses. The same Latin root "caedere" produced a whole family of English words, including "incise," "concise," "precise," "decide," and "homicide." A separate, unrelated noun "excise," meaning an internal tax on goods, entered English around the same period from Dutch via Middle Dutch "excijs," but the verb discussed here traces to the Latin cutting root.
Related word forms
How excised is actually used
The word carries a formal, clinical, or editorial register; in everyday speech people more often say 'removed' or 'cut out'. In medical writing it implies complete removal of the targeted tissue, often with clean margins.
Easily confused with excised
'Exercise' means physical activity or practice, while 'excised' means cut out or removed — the words look similar but share nothing in meaning.