Definition of "except" []

• With the exclusion of; other than; but: everyone except me. (preposition)
• If it were not for the fact that; only. Often used with that: I would buy the suit, except that it costs too much. (conjunction)
• Otherwise than: They didn't open their mouths except to complain. (conjunction)
• Unless: "And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st/Except it be to pray against thy foes” ( Shakespeare). (conjunction)
• To leave out; exclude: An admission fee is charged, but children are excepted. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "True it is, that one can scarcely call _that_ education which teaches woman everything except herself, -- _except_ the things that relate to her own peculiar womanly destiny, and, on plea of the holiness of ignorance, sends her without one word of just counsel into the temptations of life."
• "Interestingly, in most states, the law except in Florida requires you to walk away from a fight if you can, *except* in your own home, where you can shoot someone and it’s considered self-defense."
• "What we were too dumb to realize was that the guys in Def Leppard hated the term “heavy metal,” and any member of the band would have given his right arm to avoid the label except for Rick Alien, I suppose."