# present company excepted

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/present-company-excepted
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

These negative remarks do not pertain to anyone who is currently listening to them (including the speaker).

## Examples

- Everyone here is lazy, present company excepted.
- Most of the staff members are quite unreliable, present company excepted, so I appreciate your hard work.
- While the committee members have consistently failed to address these systemic issues, present company excepted, I remain hopeful that our current collaboration will yield a different result.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.