excel

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
Golf is a truly amazing game because for you to excel, that is precisely what you need.

View all »
Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. transitive verb To do or be better than; surpass.
  2. intransitive verb To show superiority; surpass others.
  3. Syntax Note
    Synonyms: excel, surpass, exceed, transcend, outdo, outstrip
    These verbs mean to be or go beyond a limit or standard. To excel is to be preeminent (excels at figure skating) or to be at a level higher than another or others (excelled her father as a lawyer). To surpass another is to be superior in performance, quality, or degree: an athlete surpassed by none.
    Exceed can refer to being superior (an invention that exceeds all others in ingenuity), to being greater than another (a salary exceeding 70 thousand dollars a year), and to going beyond a proper limit (exceed one's authority). Transcend often implies the attainment of a level so high that comparison is hardly possible: Great art transcends mere rules of composition.
    To outdo is to excel in doing or performing: won't be outdone in generosity.
    Outstrip strongly suggests leaving another behind, as in a contest: a case of the student outstripping the teacher.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Golf is a truly amazing game because for you to excel, that is precisely what you need. —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
  • At this point, we have to do a couple reports, export to excel and match / merge them in excel which is time consuming. —  Salesforce IdeaExchange
  • £25,000 - £30,000 + Excellent Benefits. strong it skills - powerpoint, excel, and database …. —  Top Stories - Google News
  • (THIS AUDIO IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 6 a.m. Eastern time) strong it skills - powerpoint, excel, and database …. —  Top Stories - Google News
  • Overcoming disadvantages may make a few individual excel, armed with skills that the privileged don't possess. —  gladwell.com
More examples »
 

Tags

excel hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 128 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

excel:   excelled ·  excelling ·  excels
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English excellen, from Latin excellere; see kel-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also excell; from Old French exceller, French exceller = Portuguese exceller = Italian eccellere, from Latin excellere, raise, elevate, intransitive rise, be eminent, surpass, excel, from ex, out, + cellere, impel, past participle celsus, raised, high, lofty.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ɛkˈsɛl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a week.

Recently looked up

reverie · FAGE · tuae · pastie · Campinas

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

rimshot · qualms · poofter · oh for heaven's sake · embodies