excel

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ex·cel

(ĭk-sĕl′)

v. ex·celled, ex·cel·ling, ex·cels

v.tr.

To do or be better than; surpass.

v.intr.

To show superiority; surpass others: excels at tennis.

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

Synonyms: excel , surpass , exceed , outstrip , outdo
These verbs mean to be greater or better than someone or something. To excel is to achieve a level higher than another or others: She excelled the other speakers in wit and eloquence. To surpass is to go beyond another in performance, quality, or degree: "Nevertheless, I had a sense of overwhelming modernity, of being a pioneer, of having surpassed my mother's generation by leagues and light-years" (Shirley Abbott).
Exceed can refer to being superior to another (an invention that exceeds all others in ingenuity), to being greater than something (a salary exceeding 250 thousand dollars a year), and to going beyond a proper limit (exceed one's authority). Outstrip and outdo imply leaving another or others behind, as in a contest or competition: The student outstripped her classmates in academic honors. "So back she went to join the other village flirts, and she outdid them all, with her flaunting smile and the wondrous way her body moved" (William Goldman).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

excel

(ɪkˈsɛl)

vb, -cels, -celling or -celled

1. to be superior to (another or others); surpass

2. (intr; foll by in or at) to be outstandingly good or proficient: he excels at tennis.

[C15: from Latin excellere to rise up]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ex•cel

(ɪkˈsɛl)

v. -celled, -cel•ling. v.i.

1. to surpass others or be superior in some respect or area; do extremely well: to excel in math.

v.t.

2. to surpass; be superior to; outdo.

[1400–50; late Middle English < Latin excellere=ex- ex-¹ + -cellere to rise high, tower (akin to celsus high)]

excel

Past participle: excelled
Gerund: excelling

Imperative
excel
excel

Present
I excel
you excel
he/she/it excels
we excel
you excel
they excel

Preterite
I excelled
you excelled
he/she/it excelled
we excelled
you excelled
they excelled

Present Continuous
I am excelling
you are excelling
he/she/it is excelling
we are excelling
you are excelling
they are excelling

Present Perfect
I have excelled
you have excelled
he/she/it has excelled
we have excelled
you have excelled
they have excelled

Past Continuous
I was excelling
you were excelling
he/she/it was excelling
we were excelling
you were excelling
they were excelling

Past Perfect
I had excelled
you had excelled
he/she/it had excelled
we had excelled
you had excelled
they had excelled

Future
I will excel
you will excel
he/she/it will excel
we will excel
you will excel
they will excel

Future Perfect
I will have excelled
you will have excelled
he/she/it will have excelled
we will have excelled
you will have excelled
they will have excelled

Future Continuous
I will be excelling
you will be excelling
he/she/it will be excelling
we will be excelling
you will be excelling
they will be excelling

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been excelling
you have been excelling
he/she/it has been excelling
we have been excelling
you have been excelling
they have been excelling

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been excelling
you will have been excelling
he/she/it will have been excelling
we will have been excelling
you will have been excelling
they will have been excelling

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been excelling
you had been excelling
he/she/it had been excelling
we had been excelling
you had been excelling
they had been excelling

Conditional
I would excel
you would excel
he/she/it would excel
we would excel
you would excel
they would excel

Past Conditional
I would have excelled
you would have excelled
he/she/it would have excelled
we would have excelled
you would have excelled
they would have excelled

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Verb

excel - distinguish oneself; "She excelled in math"

surpass, stand out

top, transcend, exceed, go past, overstep, pass - be superior or better than some standard; "She exceeded our expectations"; "She topped her performance of last year"

outrank, rank - take precedence or surpass others in rank

excel at, shine at - be good at; "She shines at math"

excel

verb be superior, better, pass, eclipse, beat, top, cap (informal), exceed, go beyond, surpass, transcend, outdo, outshine, surmount, run rings around (informal), put in the shade (informal), outrival Few dancers have excelled her in virtuosity.

excel in or at something be good at, be master of, predominate in, shine at, be proficient in, show talent in, be skilful at, have (something) down to a fine art, be talented at She excelled at outdoor sports.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

excel

verb

To be greater or better than:

best, better, exceed, outdo, outmatch, outrun, outshine, outstrip, pass, surpass, top, transcend.

Informal: beat.

Idioms: go beyond, go one better.

Translations

يَتَفَوَّقيَمْتاز

překonatvynikat

brillereudmærke sig

übertreffen ausstechen sich auszeichnen übersteigen

aventajar despuntar distinguirse sobresalir superar

hiilgamaületama

dépasser dominer exceller surmonter surpasser

túlteszfelülmúljeleskedikkiemelkedikkimagaslik

skara fram úr

eccellere superare superarsi

超える越える

ekscelencijapralenktipranoktitobulumas

būt pārākampārspēt

uitblinken

briljere overgå alle andre være fremragende dyktig

distinguir-se exceler superar ultrapassar

выделяться превосходить

daha iyi olmakön plana çıkmaksivrilmek

擅长胜过

excel

[ɪkˈsel]

A. VT → superar
to excel o.s (often iro) → lucirse, pasarse (LAm)

B. VI to excel at or in → sobresalir en, destacar en
to excel as → destacarse como

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

excel

[ɪkˈsɛl]

vi → exceller
to excel in sth, to excel at sth → exceller dans qch

vt → surpasser
to excel o.s. (British) → se surpasser

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

excel

vi → sich auszeichnen, sich hervortun

vt → übertreffen (→ in in +dat, → an +dat); to excel oneself (often iro) → sich selbst übertreffen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

excel

[ɪkˈsɛl]

1. vt → superare
to excel o.s. → superare se stesso

2. vi to excel at or in → eccellere in
to excel as → primeggiare come

excel

(ikˈsel) – past tense, past participle exˈcelled – verb

1. to stand out beyond others (in some quality etc); to do very well (in or at some activity). He excelled in mathematics / at football.

2. to be better than. She excels them all at swimming.

ˈexcellence (ˈek-) noun

unusual goodness or worth. this man's excellence as a teacher.

ˈExcellency (ˈek-) – plural ˈExcellencies – noun

(with His, ~Your etc) a title of honour, used eg for ambassadors. His/Your Excellency; Their Excellencies.

ˈexcellent (ˈek-) adjective

unusually good. an excellent plan.

ˈexcellently adverb

References in classic literature ?

You," he said to the First Poet, "excel in Art - take the Apple.

View in context

Only at evening, as he returns from the chase, he sounds his note, playing sweet and low on his pipes of reed: not even she could excel him in melody -- that bird who in flower-laden spring pouring forth her lament utters honey-voiced song amid the leaves.

View in context

They that desire to excel in too many matters, out of levity and vain glory, are ever envious.

View in context

Your ill-judged remarks have made me exceedingly angry, and you are quite mistaken, for I excel in a great many athletic exercises; indeed, so long as I had youth and strength, I was among the first athletes of the age.

I far excel every one else in the whole world, of those who still eat bread upon the face of the earth, but I should not like to shoot against the mighty dead, such as Hercules, or Eurytus the Oechalian--men who could shoot against the gods themselves.

View in context

The learning of this people is very defective, consisting only in morality, history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein they must be allowed to excel. But the last of these is wholly applied to what may be useful in life, to the improvement of agriculture, and all mechanical arts; so that among us, it would be little esteemed.

View in context

Look now at Stubb; a man who from his humorous, deliberate coolness and equanimity in the direst emergencies, was specially qualified to excel in pitchpoling.

View in context

He was one of those invaluable labourers who can not only turn their hand to everything, but excel in everything they turn their hand to.

You pick the things for what they can excel in--for what they can excel in.

View in context

It is in this power of suggestion that the Chinese poets excel. Asked to differentiate between European and Chinese poetry, some critics would perhaps insist upon their particular colour sense, instancing the curious fact that where we see blue to them it often appears green, and vice versa, or the tone theories that make their poems so difficult to understand; in fact, a learned treatise would be written on these lines, to prove that the Chinese poets were not human beings as we understand humanity at all.

View in context

"And now to come to those qualities in which David excels over Porthos--the first is that he is no snob but esteems the girl Irene (pretentiously called his nurse) more than any fine lady, and envies every ragged boy who can hit to leg.

View in context

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.