[syn: extirpation, excision, deracination]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Excision \Ex*ci"sion\, n. [L. excisio: cf. F. excision. See
Excide.]
1. The act of excising or cutting out or off; extirpation;
destruction.
[1913 Webster]
Such conquerors are the instruments of vengeance on
those nations that have . . . grown ripe for
excision. --Atterbury.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Eccl.) The act of cutting off from the church;
excommunication.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Surg.) The removal, especially of small parts, with a
cutting instrument. --Dunglison.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
excision
n 1: the omission that is made when an editorial change shortens
a written passage; "an editor's deletions frequently upset
young authors"; "both parties agreed on the excision of the
proposed clause" [syn: deletion, excision, cut]
2: surgical removal of a body part or tissue [syn: ablation,
extirpation, cutting out, excision]
3: the act of banishing a member of a church from the communion
of believers and the privileges of the church; cutting a
person off from a religious society [syn: excommunication,
excision]
4: the act of pulling up or out; uprooting; cutting off from
existence [syn: extirpation, excision, deracination]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
81 Moby Thesaurus words for "excision":
abscission, amputation, anastomotic operation, annihilation,
avulsion, bloodless operation, butchering, capital operation,
chopping, cleavage, compensating operation, corneal transplant,
crescent operation, cutting, cutting out, deracination,
destruction, dichotomy, disentanglement, drawing, drawing out,
dredging, drilling, elective operation, elimination,
emergency operation, enucleation, eradication, evolvement,
evulsion, excavation, exclusion, exploratory operation, expression,
exsection, extinction, extirpation, extraction, extrication,
fenestration operation, fission, heart transplant,
interval operation, kidney transplant, laceration, major operation,
mining, minor operation, mutilation, operation, organ transplant,
organ transplantation, palliative operation, pressing out, pulling,
quarrying, radical operation, removal, rending, rescission,
resection, ripping, ripping out, scission, section, severance,
slashing, slicing, splitting, squeezing out, surgery,
surgical intervention, surgical operation, surgical technique,
tearing, the knife, transplant, unrooting, uprooting, withdrawal,
wresting out