exalt
Americanverb (used with object)
-
exalts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
exalted,
past participle, past
-
exalting
present participle
-
to raise in rank, honor, power, character, quality, etc.; elevate.
He was exalted to the position of president.
- Antonyms:
- humble
-
to praise; extol.
to exalt someone to the skies.
- Synonyms:
- glorify
- Antonyms:
- depreciate
-
to stimulate, as the imagination.
The lyrics of Shakespeare exalted the audience.
-
to intensify, as a color.
complementary colors exalt each other.
-
Obsolete. to elate, as with pride or joy.
verb
-
to raise or elevate in rank, position, dignity, etc
-
to praise highly; glorify; extol
-
to stimulate the mind or imagination of; excite
-
to increase the intensity of (a colour, etc)
-
to fill with joy or delight; elate
-
obsolete to lift up physically
Usage
Exalt is sometimes wrongly used where exult is meant: he was exulting (not exalting ) in his win earlier that day
Synonym Usage
See elevate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
exaltsimple
-
exaltssimple
-
have exaltedperfect
-
has exaltedperfect
-
am exaltingprogressive
-
are exaltingprogressive
-
is exaltingprogressive
-
have been exaltingperfect progressive
-
has been exaltingperfect progressive
Past
-
exaltedsimple
-
had exaltedperfect
-
was exaltingprogressive
-
were exaltingprogressive
-
had been exaltingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exalt
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English exalten, from Latin exaltāre “to lift up,” from ex- ex- 1 + alt(us) “high” + -āre, infinitive verb ending
Explanation
You might like your manager, but if you exalt her, it means you really put her on a pedestal and treat her like royalty. To exalt is to hold or raise someone up to a high position or status. It doesn't have to mean literally putting that person into a high position, but instead treating them almost like nobility. Overly doting parents exalt their infant to the point where they praise him every time he wets his diaper and call the neighbors over every time he coos.
Vocabulary lists containing exalt
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Power Prefix: ex-
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A Christmas Carol
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We certainly don't fault them for their bad decision-making skills — we exalt them.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2024
Francis “certainly didn’t want to exalt imperialistic logic or government personalities, who were cited to indicate certain historic periods of reference,” Bruni said in a statement.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 29, 2023
The power of film to irrationally transform and exalt is almost a religion to Woo, and another reason why he was the natural go-to guy for this lucrative movie franchise.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
But to compare Shree to Western writers is to miss the point of “Tomb of Sand”: to exalt Hindustan beyond the bloodstained legacy of its former colonial powers.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 3, 2023
Of course they would exalt the priests and rulers who promised to maintain this miracle.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Mr. Maher complains about this, saying that while the Constitution gives primacy of power to Congress, in its current form the State of the Union exalts the president while diminishing the legislative branch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
Southern Company exalts Plant Vogtle as a key clean energy asset.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 1, 2023
But that's the kind of thing that our culture exalts these days.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2023
According to Keel, this was long explained as a psychological response to bodily changes in the face of a society that exalts thinness above all.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 26, 2022
A fanatic of a higher order is he who exalts the whole body of moral rules at the expense of human instincts and desires.
From The Moral Instruction of Children by Felix Adler
“As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors,” he reflected, “the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
She had an exalted view of her role as first lady, sometimes seeming to regard herself as a sort of deputy president.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
Scotland are there and they have a chance to do what none of their exalted predecessors have done.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026
Childs’ exalted use of dance and Kosky’s dazzling theatrical imagination may have moved us into a sleeker, more sophisticated and paradisal Glassian realm, but the sheer passion McDermott and Stasevska bring continues its own attraction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026
They are both so exalted that standing strictly to attention is probably not insisted on.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
His “more real” is frustrating, pleasurable, terrifying, exalting, and as familiar as our own peculiar families.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
“I can’t describe how beautiful, calm, sacred, exciting, and exalting it was. It was just a dream,” she told the outlet.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 29, 2025
In famous Sistema fashion, they moved as a single organism, exalting in their oneness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2024
TV viewers can watch the massive Globo network’s seven-year campaign exalting the sector.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
The music stopped and the guests gathered in the main hall where a small, innocent priest, adorned with the vestments of high mass, read the complicated sermon he had written exalting confused and impracticable virtues.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
