Excel
[ɪk'sel;ek-] or [ɪk'sɛl]
Definition
(v. t.) To go beyond or surpass in good qualities or laudable deeds; to outdo or outgo, in a good sense.
(v. t.) To exceed or go beyond; to surpass.
(v. i.) To surpass others in good qualities, laudable actions, or acquirements; to be distinguished by superiority; as, to excel in mathematics, or classics.
Editor: Oswald
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Surpass, outdo, beat, be superior to, cast in the shade, throw into the shade.[2]. Exceed, transcend, cap, go beyond.
v. n. Be superior, be eminent, bear the palm, bear the bell, take precedence.
Edited by Erna
Definition
v.t. to be superior to: to exceed: to surpass.—v.i. to have good qualities in a high degree: to perform very meritorious actions: to be superior:—pr.p. excel′ling; pa.p. excelled′.—ns. Ex′cellence Ex′cellency great merit: any excellent quality: worth: greatness: a title of honour given to persons high in rank or office.—adj. Ex′cellent surpassing others in some good quality: of great virtue worth &c.: superior: valuable.—adv. Ex′cellently.—adj. Excel′sior (L. comp.) higher still.
Editor: Nat
Examples
- We are not apt to imagine our posterity will excel us, or equal our ancestors. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- To excel in any profession, in which but few arrive at mediocrity, it is the most decisive mark of what is called genius, or superior talents. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The learning of this people is very defective, consisting only in morality, history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein they must be allowed to excel. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Montaigne is not more free and flowing, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is scarcely more graphic; neither does Bossuet excel him in poetical power. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The _lighthouses_ of the century, in masonry, do not greatly excel in general principles those of preceding ones, as at Eddystone, designed by Smeaton. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Strength is a kind of power; and therefore the desire to excel in strength is to be considered as an inferior species of ambition. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Physically, she far excelled me: she was handsome; she was vigorous. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- The two pointed pieces of hard conducting carbon used for the separated terminals constitute the voltaic arc light--a light only excelled in intense brilliancy by the sun itself. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Those republics encouraged the acquisition of those exercises, by bestowing little premiums and badges of distinction upon those who excelled in them. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- They excelled in horticulture, knowing how to graft and how to produce new varieties of fruit and flowers. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Caligula valued himself for being a notable dancer; and to deny that he excelled in that manly accomplishment was high treason. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Even these great instruments have now been excelled in the Grande Lunette, of the Paris Exposition, in 1900. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- At a later period in Germany, where the wood pulp art began, even this expeditious work has been excelled. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Another excels in making the frames and covers of their little huts or moveable houses. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- For light parcel system there is said to be no form of delivery that excels the motorcycle in speed and efficiency and nothing with operation costs so low. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- For picturesque detail it would not be easy to find any story excelling that of the Edison family before it reached the Western Reserve. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
Inputed by Elliot