excel

See also Excel

English

Etymology

Latin excellere, excelsum; ex out + a root found in culmen height, top; Compare French exceller. See also culminate, column.

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^[1], page 177:

         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.
   • 2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, BBC Sport:

     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. Available at: <http://www.classicallibrary.org/aristotle/metaphysics/>. 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.

3. (rare) To exceed, to go beyond
   • 1674, Paradise lost, book II, by Milton

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

   • XIX century, I reason, Earth is short, by Emily Dickinson

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

Translations

transitive: to surpass someone or something

• Bulgarian: превъзхождам (bg) (prevǎzhoždam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 勝過 (cmn), 胜过 (cmn) (shèngguò), 優於 (cmn), 優於 (cmn), 超越 (cmn) (chāoyuè)

• Czech: překonat (cs)
• Esperanto: superi (eo)
• Estonian: ületama (et)
• Finnish: olla parempi
• French: dépasser (fr)
• German: ausstechen (de), übersteigen (de), übertreffen (de)

• 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)
• Nahuatl: tlamiauati
• Portuguese: superar (pt), ultrapassar (pt), exceler (pt)
• Russian: превосходить (ru) (prevosxodít’) impf., превзойти (ru) (prevzojtí) pf.
• Spanish: aventajar (es), superar (es)
• Swedish: överglänsa (sv)

intransitive: to be much better than others

• Bulgarian: отличавам се (bg) (otličavam se)
• Catalan: excel·lir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 擅長 (cmn), 擅长 (cmn) (shàncháng)

• Czech: vynikat (cs)
• Dutch: uitblinken (nl)
• Esperanto: superi (eo)
• Estonian: hiilgama (et)
• Finnish: loistaa, olla erittäin hyvä
• French: dépasser (fr)

• German: sich hervortun
• Hebrew: הצטיין (he) (hitztayén)
• Hungarian: kimagaslik (hu), kiemelkedik (hu), jeleskedik (hu), kitűnik (hu)
• Italian: superare (it)
• Japanese: 超える (ja) (こえる, koeru), 越える (ja) (こえる, koeru)
• Portuguese: distinguir-se (pt)
• Russian: выделяться (ru) (vydelját’sja)
• Spanish: sobresalir (es), distinguirse (es)
• Swedish: excellera (sv), briljera (sv), glänsa (sv), stila (sv)

References

• excel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913