exception

See also: Exception

English

Etymology

From Middle English exception, excepcioun, from Anglo-Norman excepcioun, from Old French excepcion, from Latin exceptiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛpʃən/, /ɪkˈsɛpʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: acception (for pronunciations with schwa)

Noun

exception (countable and uncountable, plural exceptions)

1. The act of excepting or excluding; exclusion; restriction by taking out something which would otherwise be included, as in a class, statement, rule.

   the exception of a rule

2. That which is excluded from others; a person, thing, or case, specified as distinct, or not included.

   Synonym: outlier

   Antonyms: commonness, generality

   That rule is usually true, but there are a few exceptions.

   • 2012, Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, →ISBN, page 31:

     The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had abolished slavery but allowed one major exception: slavery remained appropriate as punishment for a crime.

3. (law) An objection, on legal grounds; also, as in conveyancing, a clause by which the grantor excepts or reserves something before the right is transferred.
5. (usually followed by to or against) An objection; cavil; dissent; disapprobation; offense; cause of offense.
6. (programming) An interruption in normal processing, typically caused by an error condition, that can be raised ("thrown") by one part of the program and handled ("caught") by another part.

   null pointer exception

Hyponyms

• checked exception
• unchecked exception

 

Derived terms

• be no exception
• every rule has an exception
• exception handler
• exceptionless
• exception that proves the rule
• first-chance exception
• make an exception
• management by exception
• personal exception
• state of exception
• take exception
• there is an exception to every rule
• without exception
• with the exception of

 

Related terms

• except
• exceptional

 

Translations

act of excepting or excluding; exclusion

• Arabic: اِسْتِثْنَاء m (istiṯnāʔ)
• Belarusian: выключэ́нне n (vyključénnje)
• Bulgarian: изключе́ние (bg) n (izključénie), изклю́чване (bg) n (izkljúčvane)
• Catalan: excepció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 排除 (zh) (páichú)

• Czech: výjimka (cs) f
• Danish: undtagelse (da) c
• Dutch: uitzondering (nl) f
• Esperanto: esceptado
• Estonian: erand (et)
• Faroese: undantak n
• Finnish: poikkeus (fi)
• German: Ausnahme (de) f
• Greek: εξαίρεση (el) f (exaíresi)
• Irish: eisceacht f
• Italian: eccezione (it) f
• Japanese: 除外 (ja) (じょがい, jogai)
• Korean: 제외(除外) (ko) (je'oe)
• Maori: hāungatanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: aberrasjon (no) m

• Portuguese: exceção (pt) f
• Russian: исключе́ние (ru) n (isključénije), изъя́тие (ru) n (izʺjátije)
• Scottish Gaelic: fàgail a-mach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: iznimka (sh) f, izuzetak (sh) m, izuzeće n

• Slovak: výnimka f
• Spanish: excepción (es) f, salvedad f
• Swedish: undantag (sv) n
• Turkish: istisna (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́ключення n (výključennja), ви́лучення (uk) n (výlučennja)

that which is excepted or taken out from others

• Albanian: përjashtim (sq) m
• Arabic: اِسْتِثْنَاء m (istiṯnāʔ)
• Armenian: բացառություն (hy) (bacʻaṙutʻyun)
• Asturian: esceición f
• Azerbaijani: istisna (az)
• Belarusian: вы́нятак m (výnjatak)
• Bulgarian: изключе́ние (bg) n (izključénie)
• Catalan: excepció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 例外 (zh) (lìwài)

• Czech: výjimka (cs) f
• Danish: undtagelse (da) c
• Dutch: uitzondering (nl) f
• Esperanto: escepto
• Estonian: erand (et)
• Finnish: poikkeus (fi)
• French: exception (fr) f
• Galician: excepción (gl) f
• Georgian: გამონაკლისი (gamonaḳlisi)
• German: Ausnahme (de) f
• Greek: εξαίρεση (el) f (exaíresi)
• Hebrew: יוֹצֵא דֹּפֶן / יוצא דופן (he) m, חָרִיג (he) m
• Hindi: अपवाद (hi) m (apvād)
• Hungarian: kivétel (hu)
• Icelandic: undantekning f
• Ingrian: iskljucenija
• Irish: eisceacht f
• Italian: eccezione (it)
• Japanese: 例外 (ja) (れいがい, reigai), 殊 (ja) (こと, koto)
• Kazakh: ерекшелік (erekşelık)
• Korean: 예외(例外) (ko) (ye'oe), 례외(例外) (ko) (rye'oe) (North Korea)
• Kyrgyz: бөтөнчө (ky) (bötöncö), өзгөчө (ky) (özgöcö)
• Latin: exceptiō f
• Latvian: izņēmums m
• Lithuanian: išimtis m
• Macedonian: исклучок m (isklučok)
• Maori: hāungatanga, rerenga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: unntak n, aberrasjon (no) m

• Pashto: استثنا f (estesnã)
• Persian: استثنا (fa) (estesnâ)
• Polish: wyjątek (pl) m
• Portuguese: exceção (pt) f
• Romanian: excepție (ro) f
• Russian: исключе́ние (ru) n (isključénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: fàgail a-mach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: изузе́так m

  Roman: izuzétak (sh) m

• Slovak: výnimka f
• Slovene: izjema (sl) f
• Spanish: excepción (es) f, salvedad
• Swedish: undantag (sv) n
• Tajik: истисно (istisno)
• Thai: ข้อยกเว้น (kɔ̂ɔ-yók-wén), การยกเว้น (th)
• Turkish: istisna (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́няток m (výnjatok), ви́йняток m (výjnjatok)
• Urdu: استشنا (istisnā)
• Uyghur: ئىستىسنا (istisna)
• Uzbek: istisno (uz)
• Vietnamese: lệ ngoại (vi), ngoại lệ (vi)
• Welsh: eithriad m
• Zazaki: istisna c, ciya (diq) c

(law) an objection

• Bulgarian: отво́д (bg) m (otvód)
• Catalan: excepció (ca) f
• Finnish: ehto (fi)
• Hungarian: kifogás (hu), ellenvetés (hu)
• Irish: eisceacht f
• Latin: exceptio
• Russian: отво́д (ru) m (otvód)
• Welsh: gwrthwynebiad (cy) m

an objection; cavil; dissent; disapprobation; offense; cause of offense

• Bulgarian: възраже́ние (bg) n (vǎzražénie)
• Finnish: kritiikki (fi), vastustus (fi)
• Hungarian: ellenvetés (hu), tiltakozás (hu), megütközés (hu)
• Russian: возраже́ние (ru) n (vozražénije)
• Spanish: ofensa (es) f

computing: an interruption in normal processing

• Arabic: اِسْتِثْنَاء m (istiṯnāʔ), خَطَأ m (ḵaṭaʔ)
• Belarusian: памы́лка f (pamýlka)
• Bulgarian: гре́шка (bg) f (gréška)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 異常／异常 (zh) (yìcháng)

• Czech: výjimka (cs) f
• Finnish: poikkeus (fi)
• French: exception (fr) f
• German: Ausnahme (de) f, Ausnahmebedingung f, Exception f
• Greek: εξαίρεση (el) f (exaíresi)
• Hungarian: megszakítás (hu), kivétel (hu)
• Irish: eisceacht f
• Japanese: 例外 (ja) (れいがい, reigai)
• Polish: wyjątek (pl) m
• Portuguese: exceção (pt) f, exception f
• Russian: оши́бка (ru) f (ošíbka)
• Turkish: olağandışı durum
• Ukrainian: поми́лка (uk) f (pomýlka)
• Zazaki: weziyeto ecayıb

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exceptiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.sɛp.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

exception f (plural exceptions)

1. exception

   Antonym: règle

   L’exception confirme la règle. ― The exception proves the rule.

2. (programming) exception (interruption in normal processing, typically caused by an error condition)

Derived terms

• à l’exception de
• d’exception
• exception qui confirme la règle
• exceptionnel
• faire exception
• sans exception

Further reading

• “exception”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.