Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- Outside; out of; away from: exodontia.
- Not; without: excaudate.
- Former: ex-president.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- out of
- outside
- former, but still living (almost always used with a hyphen)
- Lacking.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- A prefix from the latin preposition, ex, akin to Gr. 'ex or 'ek signifying out of, out, proceeding from. Hence, in composition, it signifies out of, . In some words, it intensifies the meaning; in others, it has little affect on the signification. It becomes ef- before f, as in effuse. The form e- occurs instead of ex- before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, and v, as in ebullient, emanate, enormous, etc. In words from the French it often appears as es-, sometimes as s- or é-. Ex-, prefixed to names implying office, station, condition, denotes that the person formerly held the office, or is out of the office or condition now. The Greek form 'ex becomes ex in English, as in exarch; 'ek becomes ec, as in eccentric.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- A dialectal variant of ask.
- A Latin preposition, meaning ‘out,’ ‘out of.’
- A prefix of Latin, and in some cases of Greek origin, meaning primarily ‘out,’ ‘out of.’
- An abbreviation of Exodus.
- n. A dialectal variant of ax.
- n. A dialectal form of ax.
- n. The name of the letter X, x. It is rarely written, the symbol being used instead.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a man who was formerly a certain woman's husband
- adj. out of fashion
- n. a woman who was formerly a particular man's wife
- n. the 24th letter of the Roman alphabet
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
-
An aide to ex-Rep. Giffords, who was wounded at the same event where she was shot, said he will run to fill her seat.
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Ferran Adrià is not closing El Bulli, the world's ex- best restaurant, tonight, he is simply "changing, moving on … improving", a process that involves, erm, closing it.
-
The people said that an SAC managing director, Michael C. Sullivan , a former staffer for ex-Sen. John Ensign, also cited Mr. Cohen's civic-minded interest in considering purchasing a stake in the New York Mets.
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Siemens is naming ex-Gen. Stanley McChrystal to a supervisory role as part of its push to win more business with the U.S. government.
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Sam is the name of two little boys I know, but it is a good ex- con-sounding name.
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"When people see headlines that Calpers has had a great year, it takes some of the pressure off" for change, says David Crane , a former adviser to ex-Gov.
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While the full impact of John Nettles's departure has yet to be ascertained, ill-chosen remarks by now ex- producer Brian True-May re: the programme's status as a "bastion of Englishness" have hinted at something more sinister lurking in the Midsomer undergrowth.
Top Gear, New Tricks, Lewis … the television shows that won't die
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Preface it with ex- and the definition became something altogether different.
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In sharp contrast, you think your ex- has taken all the 'good' with him or her and is living it up.
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Traveling with her tiny Pomeranian, she checks into a motel and calls that ex-: Buddy Slade Patrick Wilson.
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