Letters and spelling
This list gathers common words beginning with the ex- prefix, which usually points to something going 'out' or being 'former.' It's designed for students learning prefixes, vocabulary builders, and anyone curious about how the same root shapes many everyday words.
| Word | Meaning | In a sentence | Save |
|---|---|---|---|
| exitnoun | A way out of a building, vehicle, or enclosed space. | Fire regulations require every classroom to have a clearly marked exit. | |
| exhaleverb | To breathe out air from the lungs, releasing carbon dioxide. | She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm her nerves. | |
| excludeverb | To deliberately leave out or prevent someone or something from being included. | The club was criticized for excluding members based on their income. | |
| exclaimverb | To cry out or say something suddenly and loudly, especially from strong emotion. | 'Watch out!' she exclaimed as the car sped through the crosswalk. | |
| excavateverb | To dig into the ground to expose or remove something, often as part of construction or archaeology. | Archaeologists spent months excavating the ancient temple buried beneath the desert sand. | |
| exceedverb | To go beyond a particular limit, amount, or expectation. | The company's profits exceeded expectations for the third quarter in a row. | |
| excelverb | To be exceptionally good at or outperform others in a particular activity. | She has always excelled at mathematics, often finishing tests well ahead of everyone else. | |
| exceptpreposition | Not including; other than a particular person, thing, or situation. | Everyone except Sam remembered to bring their homework to class that day. | |
| excerptnoun | A short passage taken from a book, film, speech, or piece of music. | The teacher read an excerpt from the novel before assigning the full chapter. | |
| excessnoun | An amount that is more than necessary, permitted, or usual. | Doctors warned that an excess of sugar in the diet contributes to weight gain. | |
| exchangenoun | An act of giving one thing and receiving another in return. | They agreed to an exchange of prisoners after months of negotiation. | |
| exciteverb | To cause someone to feel eager, enthusiastic, or emotionally stirred up. | The trailer excited fans so much that tickets sold out within minutes of release. | |
| exhaustverb | To use up all of something's resources, strength, or patience. | The long negotiation exhausted both sides' patience by the final hour. | |
| exilenoun | The state of being forced to live away from one's home country or region, often for political reasons. | The writer spent thirty years in exile after criticizing the government. | |
| existverb | To have actual, objective, or continued being; to be real. | Scientists debate whether life exists on other planets. | |
| exoticadjective | Originating in or typical of a distant, unfamiliar country, and therefore strikingly unusual or colorful. | The market sold exotic spices that filled the whole street with fragrance. | |
| expandverb | To become larger in size, volume, or scope, or to make something larger. | The company plans to expand its operations into three new countries next year. | |
| expectverb | To believe that something will happen or that someone will arrive, based on available information. | We expect the package to arrive sometime early next week at the latest. | |
| expeditionnoun | A journey undertaken by a group of people for a specific purpose, such as exploration or research. | The scientists organized an expedition to study glaciers in Antarctica. | |
| expelverb | To officially force someone to leave a school, organization, or place, usually as punishment. | The student was expelled after repeated violations of the honor code. | |
| experiencenoun | Practical knowledge or skill gained from doing, seeing, or feeling things over time. | Years of experience taught her how to calm nervous patients before surgery. | |
| experimentnoun | A planned test used to investigate a question or test an explanation. | Our experiment compared how quickly sugar dissolved in warm and cool water. | |
| expertnoun | A person with extensive knowledge or skill in a particular field. | The museum hired an expert to authenticate the newly discovered painting. | |
| expireverb | To come to an end or stop being valid. | Her passport will expire next month, so she needs to renew it before the trip. | |
| explainverb | To make something clear by giving information, reasons, or details. | Please explain how you solved the problem. | |
| explodeverb | To burst suddenly and violently with a loud noise, releasing energy, gas, or fragments. | The old boiler exploded, shattering windows in the building next door. | |
| exploreverb | To travel through an unfamiliar area or subject in order to learn about it. | The children spent the afternoon exploring the tide pools along the shore. | |
| exportverb | To send goods or services to another country for sale. | The country exports most of its coffee to Europe and North America. | |
| exposeverb | To reveal something hidden, especially wrongdoing, or to leave someone unprotected from something harmful. | The journalist's investigation exposed years of fraud at the charity. | |
| expressverb | To convey a thought, feeling, or opinion in words, actions, or another form. | She struggled to express her gratitude in words. |
No matching words in this collection.
The Latin prefix ex- often means 'out of' or 'from,' as in exit (go out) and exhale (breathe out). It can also mean 'former,' as in an ex-president. Both senses share the idea of something moving away or having moved on from an earlier state, which is a helpful clue when meeting an unfamiliar ex- word.
It usually means 'out' or 'former,' as in exit or export.