excel

See also: Excel

English

Etymology

From Middle English excellen, from Old French exceller, from Latin excellere, excelsum; ex (“out”) + *cellō, an unattested verb root found in culmen (“height, top”); Compare French exceller. See also culminate, column.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪkˈsɛl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl

Verb

excel (third-person singular simple present excels, present participle excelling, simple past and past participle excelled)

1. (transitive) To surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something.
   • 1936, Dale Carnegie, “Part 3, Chapter 6: THE SAFETY VALVE IN HANDLING COMPLAINTS”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People:

     La Rochefoucauld, the French philosopher, said: "If you want enemies, excel your friends; but if you want friends, let your friends excel you." Why is that true? Because when our friends excel us, that gives them a feeling of importance; but when we excel them, that gives them a feeling of inferiority and arouses envy and jealousy.

   I excelled everyone else with my exam results.

2. (intransitive) To be much better than others.
   • 1924: Aristotle, Metaphysics. Translated by W. D. Ross. Nashotah, Wisconsin, USA: The Classical Library, 2001. Book 1, Part 2..

     If, then, there is something in what the poets say, and jealousy is natural to the divine power, it would probably occur in this case above all, and all who excelled in this knowledge would be unfortunate.

   • 2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Lescott gave his finest England performance alongside his former Everton team-mate Phil Jagielka, who also excelled despite playing with a fractured toe, while Parker was given a deserved standing ovation when he was substituted late on.

3. (transitive, archaic, rare) To exceed, to go beyond
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise lost, book II:

     She opened; but to shut / Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood […]

   • a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “[Book IV.—Time and Eternity] I reason, earth is short”, in Mabel Loomis Todd and T[homas] W[entworth] Higginson, editors, Poems, First Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1890, →OCLC, page 134:

     I reason, we could die : / The best vitality / Cannot excel decay; / But what of that?

Synonyms

• (to surpass someone or something): better, outclass, outperform; see also Thesaurus:exceed
• (to be much better than others): rock, rule
• (to go beyond): exceed, overstep, surpass, transgress, transcend; see also Thesaurus:transcend

Related terms

• excellence
• excellent

Translations

transitive: to surpass someone or something

• Arabic: تَفَوَّقَ (tafawwaqa), بَزَّ (bazza), اِمْتَازَ (imtāza), فَاقَ (fāqa)
• Bulgarian: превъзхо́ждам (bg) impf (prevǎzhóždam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 勝過／胜过 (zh) (shèngguò), 優於／优于 (zh) (yōuyú), 優於／优于 (zh) (yōuyú), 超越 (zh) (chāoyuè)

• Czech: překonat (cs)
• Esperanto: superi
• Estonian: ületama (et)
• Finnish: olla parempi
• French: dépasser (fr)
• Galician: adiantar, avantaxar, sobrepasar, superar (gl)
• German: ausstechen (de), übersteigen (de), übertreffen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὑπερέχω (huperékhō), ὑπερβάλλω (huperbállō)

• Hungarian: felülmúl (hu), túltesz (hu)
• Italian: superare (it)
• Japanese: 超える (ja) (こえる, koeru), 越える (ja) (こえる, koeru), 秀でる (ja) (ひいでる, hiideru)
• Korean: 뛰어나다 (ko) (ttwieonada)
• Latin: praecellō
• Nahuatl: tlamiauati
• Portuguese: superar (pt), ultrapassar (pt), exceler (pt)
• Russian: превосходи́ть (ru) impf (prevosxodítʹ), превзойти́ (ru) pf (prevzojtí)
• Spanish: aventajar (es), superar (es)
• Swedish: överglänsa

intransitive: to be much better than others

• Arabic: بَرَعَ (baraʕa)
• Bulgarian: отлича́вам се (bg) impf (otličávam se)
• Catalan: excel·lir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 擅長／擅长 (zh) (shàncháng)

• Czech: vynikat
• Dutch: uitblinken (nl)
• Esperanto: superi
• Estonian: hiilgama
• Finnish: loistaa (fi), olla erittäin hyvä
• French: dépasser (fr)
• Galician: destacar (gl), sobresaír (gl), superar (gl), sobrepasar
• German: sich hervortun, herausragend sein
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὑπερέχω (huperékhō)

• Hebrew: הצטיין (hitztayén)
• Hungarian: kimagaslik (hu), kiemelkedik (hu), jeleskedik (hu), kitűnik (hu)
• Ido: ecelar (io)
• Italian: superare (it), eccellere (it), brillare (it), primeggiare (it), spiccare (it)
• Japanese: 超える (ja) (こえる, koeru), 越える (ja) (こえる, koeru), 卓越する (ja) (たくえつする, takuetsu suru)
• Korean: 탁월하다 (ko) (tagwolhada)
• Latin: praecellō
• Occitan: excellir (oc)
• Portuguese: distinguir-se
• Russian: выделя́ться (ru) impf (vydeljátʹsja), отлича́ться (ru) impf (otličátʹsja)
• Spanish: sobresalir (es), distinguirse (es)
• Swedish: excellera (sv), briljera (sv), glänsa (sv), stila (sv)

References

• “excel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.