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v. ex·celled, ex·cel·ling, ex·cels v.tr. To do or be better than; surpass. v.intr. To show superiority; surpass others: excels at tennis. [Middle English excellen, from Latin excellere; see kel-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Synonyms: excel, surpass, exceed, outstrip, outdo These verbs mean to be greater or better than someone or something. To excel is to achieve a level higher than another or others: She excelled the other speakers in wit and eloquence. To surpass is to go beyond another in performance, quality, or degree: "Nevertheless, I had a sense of overwhelming modernity, of being a pioneer, of having surpassed my mother's generation by leagues and light-years" (Shirley Abbott). Exceed can refer to being superior to another (an invention that exceeds all others in ingenuity), to being greater than something (a salary exceeding 250 thousand dollars a year), and to going beyond a proper limit (exceed one's authority). Outstrip and outdo imply leaving another or others behind, as in a contest or competition: The student outstripped her classmates in academic honors. "So back she went to join the other village flirts, and she outdid them all, with her flaunting smile and the wondrous way her body moved" (William Goldman). |
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