exceed
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- excede (dated)
Etymology edit
From Middle English exceden, from Old French exceder, from Latin excedō (“to go beyond”), from ex- (“out, forth”) with cedō (“to go”); see cede and compare accede etc. Partly displaced native Old English ofersteppan, whence Modern English overstep.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
exceed (third-person singular simple present exceeds, present participle exceeding, simple past and past participle exceeded)
- (transitive) To be larger, greater than (something).
- The company's 2005 revenue exceeds that of 2004.
- (transitive) To be better than (something).
- The quality of her essay has exceeded my expectations.
- (transitive) To go beyond (some limit); to surpass; to be longer than.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
- Name the time, but let it not / Exceed three days.
- 2012 January, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 1, page 60:
- Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.
- Your password cannot exceed eight characters.
- (intransitive) To predominate.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To go too far; to be excessive.
- 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.6:
- And to speak impartially, old Men, from whom we should expect the greatest example of Wisdom, do most exceed in this point of folly […].
Synonyms edit
- (to be larger than something): outbalance, outweigh
- (to be better than something): excel, outperform, surpass; see also Thesaurus:exceed
- (to go beyond some limit): outstep, overstep, surpass; see also Thesaurus:transcend
- (to predominate):
- (to be excessive): cross the line
Antonyms edit
According to the Oxford Dictionary website: "There is no established opposite to the word exceed, and it is quite often suggested that one is needed. We are gathering evidence of the word deceed 'be less than', but it has not yet reached our dictionaries."
- to fail
- to be inferior
- to fall short (of)
- to fall below
- to subceed
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
to be larger, greater than something else or than expected or desirable
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to be better than something else or than expected or desirable
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to go beyond the limits of something
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading edit
- “exceed”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024), “exceed”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “exceed”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.