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Does something like this exist? A single word with the meaning "taking up more space than available".

Use case: Excel sheet name (<30 characters) that lists values that do not fit because their columns have a shorter maximum length. Ideally, the sheet's name is '[adjective I'm looking for] values'.

Options I found so far:

  • shortened values means something different, but might be the best I can think of in this case, since the part at the end that doesn't fit is cut off.
  • truncated values like the last one, but possibly more accurate, and maybe more confusing at the same time, since in a database 'truncate' usually means losing the entire table content.
  • values that did not fit is a pretty descriptive name that fits, but has two verbs and is almost a sentence; therefore it feels too extensive for a sheet name to me.

I did not expect it to be difficult to find the right words for something as common as this, but even in my primary language Dutch I can't find the right formulation. In Dutch I would probably say 'te grote waarden', which does not sound grammatically correct in English ('too big values').

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  • How about “too long”?
    – Xanne
    Nov 25, 2019 at 15:58
  • The values are too long indeed, but I can't say that I have a list of too long values. It seems to be an English grammatical limitation... Nov 25, 2019 at 16:02
  • You could say too-long values, though, or values that are too long. But why not just change the width of the column? Or wrap the text?
    – Xanne
    Nov 26, 2019 at 1:19

2 Answers 2

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I haven't seen it used before in this particular context, but outsized might fit:

: an unusual size
especially : a size larger than the standard

(source: Merriam-Webster)

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  • 3
    Or oversized. Nov 25, 2019 at 14:13
  • Outsized and oversized are not bad, thank you. But I think they both mean '(much) bigger than usual' rather than 'bigger than could possibly ever fit'. Nov 25, 2019 at 15:57
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There are actually two different ways of interpreting this question, so I'll provide an answer to each.

Let's say you have the word anthropomorphize, which is 16 characters, and that the spreadsheet has cells that only allow for 10 characters.

You then have two different pieces of text: anthropomo (10 characters) and anthropomorphize (16 characters).


1. Anthropmo is …

As a better word than shortened or truncated, I would say that anthropomo is the displayed value:

[Merriam-Webster: display]
1 a : to put or spread before the view
// display the flag.


2. Anthropomorphize is …

This depends on further interpretation. I will give two possibilities.

a) Anthropomorphize is the actual value:

[Merriam-Webster]
1 a : existing in fact or reality
// actual events
// actual and imagined conditions
1 b : not false or apparent
// actual costs

b) Anthropomorphize is the extended value:

[Merriam-Webster]
2 a : fully stretched out
// an extended battle line

While extended can mean to expand or stretch something beyond its original size, in this case it would be relative to the number of characters being displayed.


The following is a summary:

  • Anthropomo is the displayed (10-character) value of the actual word anthropomorphize.
  • Anthropomorphize is the extended (16-character) value of the same word.

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