from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
ex
adj 1: out of fashion; "a suit of rather antique appearance";
"demode (or outmoded) attire"; "outmoded ideas" [syn:
{antique}, {demode}, {ex}, {old-fashioned}, {old-hat(p)},
{outmoded}, {passe}, {passee}]
n 1: a man who was formerly a certain woman's husband [syn: {ex-
husband}, {ex}]
2: a woman who was formerly a particular man's wife; "all his
exes live in Texas" [syn: {ex-wife}, {ex}]
3: the 24th letter of the Roman alphabet [syn: {X}, {x}, {ex}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Ex- \Ex-\ ([e^]ks).
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, as, in exhale, exclude;
off, from, or out, as in exscind; beyond, as, in excess,
exceed, excel; and sometimes has a privative sense of
without, as in exalbuminous, exsanguinous. 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 ['e]-; as,
escape, scape, ['e]lite. 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;
as, ex-president, ex-governor, ex-mayor, ex-wife, ex-convict.
The Greek form 'ex becomes ex in English, as in exarch; 'ek
becomes ec, as in eccentric.
[1913 Webster]