excellent
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English excellent, from Old French excellent, from Latin excellēns (“elevated, exalted”), present participle of excellō (“elevate, exult”), equivalent to excel + -ent.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɛksələnt/, /ˈɛksɪlənt/
- (in rapid speech) IPA(key): /ˈɛkslənt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈɛksələnt/
Audio (US) (file)
Adjective edit
excellent (comparative excellenter or more excellent, superlative excellentest or most excellent)
- Having excelled, having surpassed.
- Of higher or the highest quality; splendid.
- 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:
- A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.
- Exceptionally good of its kind.
- 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
- Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.
- Bill and Ted had an excellent adventure last week in preparation of their history exam.
- Superior in kind or degree, irrespective of moral quality.
- 1754–1762, David Hume, The History of England
- Elizabeth, therefore, who was an excellent hypocrite
- 1616–1618, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Queene of Corinth”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii:
- Their sorrows are most excellent.
- 1754–1762, David Hume, The History of England
Synonyms edit
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
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Adverb edit
excellent (comparative more excellent, superlative most excellent)
- (obsolete) Excellently.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:, New York Review Books 2001, p.287:
- Lucian, in his tract de Mercede conductis, hath excellent well deciphered such men's proceedings in his picture of Opulentia […].
Further reading edit
- “excellent”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- excellent in Britannica Dictionary
- excellent in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
- excellent in Ozdic collocation dictionary
- excellent in WordReference English Collocations
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
From Middle Dutch excellent, from Middle French excellent, from Old French excellent, from Latin excellēns.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
excellent (comparative excellenter, superlative excellentst)
- (formal) excellent, splendid
- Synonyms: uitmuntend, uitstekend
Inflection edit
Inflection of excellent | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | excellent | |||
inflected | excellente | |||
comparative | excellenter | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | excellent | excellenter | het excellentst het excellentste | |
indefinite | m./f. sing. | excellente | excellentere | excellentste |
n. sing. | excellent | excellenter | excellentste | |
plural | excellente | excellentere | excellentste | |
definite | excellente | excellentere | excellentste | |
partitive | excellents | excellenters | — |
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
French edit
Etymology 1 edit
Borrowed from Latin excellentem.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
excellent (feminine excellente, masculine plural excellents, feminine plural excellentes)
Usage notes edit
This adjective is generally placed before the noun it modifies.
Etymology 2 edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
excellent
Further reading edit
- “excellent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin edit
Verb edit
excellent
Middle French edit
Noun edit
excellent m (feminine singular excellente, masculine plural excellens, feminine plural excellentes)
Occitan edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (Béarn) (file)
Adjective edit
excellent m (feminine singular excellenta, masculine plural excellents, feminine plural excellentas)