Excel
Origin
Latin excellere, excelsum; ex out + a root found in culmen height, top; Compare French exceller. See also culminate, column.
Full definition of excel
Verb
- (transitive) To surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something.
- 1936, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People Chapter Part 3, Chapter 6: THE SAFETY VALVE IN HANDLING COMPLAINTSLa 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.
- (intransitive) To be much better than others.
- November 12, 2011, , International friendly: England 1-0 Spain, 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.
- 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.
- (rare) To exceed, to go beyond
- 1674, Paradise lost, , by MiltonShe opened; but to shut
Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood ... - XIX century, , by Emily DickinsonI reason, we could die :
The best vitality
Cannot excel decay;
But what of that?