excel

Definition

To surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something.

Etymology

From Middle English excellen, from Old French exceller, from Latin excellere, excelsum; ex (“out”) + *cellō, an unattested verb root found in culmen (“height, top”); Compare French exceller. See also culminate, column.

Example Sentences

• "I excelled everyone else with my exam results."
• "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."
• "But it is as a destroyer of grasshoppers that the dickcissel excels."

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