exult
Americanverb (used without object)
-
exults,
present (3rd person singular)
-
exulted,
past participle, past
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exulting
present participle
verb
-
to be joyful or jubilant, esp because of triumph or success; rejoice
-
(often foll by over) to triumph (over); show or take delight in the defeat or discomfiture (of)
Usage
What does exult mean? Exult means to express or experience triumph or happiness, as in The gambler always exults after winning the big jackpot. Exult can be confused for the similarly spelled word exalt. Exalt has several meanings, including to elevate in rank, power or quality and to praise. Example: Your project winning a national contest is something to exult about!
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
exultsimple
-
exultssimple
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have exultedperfect
-
has exultedperfect
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am exultingprogressive
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are exultingprogressive
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is exultingprogressive
-
have been exultingperfect progressive
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has been exultingperfect progressive
Past
-
exultedsimple
-
had exultedperfect
-
was exultingprogressive
-
were exultingprogressive
-
had been exultingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exult
1560–70; < Latin ex ( s ) ultāre to leap up, equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + -sultāre (combining form of saltāre to leap)
Explanation
Sometimes you might feel so happy about something you could just burst. This is the time to exult, or rejoice, and you might show your great happiness by laughing, dancing, and shouting with pure joy. To exult means to express your joy in some visible way. Some people exult in a sedate manner, maybe just enjoying their happiness quietly within themselves. Others are more emotional, perhaps expressing their triumph in a loud or physical manner. When you break the word down into its Latin parts, the ex- means "out," and saltāre means "to leap." So exult means to leap with joy.
Vocabulary lists containing exult
List 5
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Hatchet
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "E"
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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:
In his 1908 book, “Orthodoxy,” Chesterton wrote: “Grown-up people aren’t strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
It’s a thumping, reverberating, woofer-rattling, arena-scale sensation, something to exult in even when it doesn’t always go right.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2024
I’d give $100 to hear this oh-so-proper Englishman exult and declare himself “King of the World” when that happens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2024
Frankie and Zeke exult in their profundity, but the real triumph here is Wilson’s.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 15, 2022
But he had lived with a basketball, had paid his dues, and could now exult in this one small skill of boyhood.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Unlike Hoover Dam, which exults in exertion, the Gateway Arch seems effortless.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
“Adventure, risk, transformation,” she exults, forever on the lookout for her next metamorphosis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
Her low, troubled voice starts to leap upward as she exults, “I want to be alone/I’m happy on my own.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2022
Sure, she was competing in the event to earn prize money for college, but her enthusiasm is hardly transactional as she exults over the Constitution’s “warm-blooded, steamy” nature.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2022
"What did I say?" exults Hugo, clapping his hands.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
“Confirmed, it’s coming home! Lungu to be buried in Zambia,” the city of Chipata exulted on social media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
“This is super cool,” exulted Dean, an auto mechanic who does the repair work at the family-run garage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2024
“We did it!” a family member exulted to lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
Karol G became the first woman to win a Latin Grammy for música urbana album; “How cool is it for a woman to win this?” she exulted.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2023
“This will pierce their puffed-up ambitions,” he exulted.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Mr. Herzog is interested in everything, and makes everything interesting, exulting in all of the world’s settings, the stranger the better.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
We need to take the next step, which is to say that they are breaking systems and exulting in it.
From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2026
Meanwhile, Californians continue to move in, exulting in the lower cost of living while driving up prices for lifelong residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2023
Painters depicted shells, with names as wonderful as “precious wentletrap” and “speckled episcopal miter,” arrayed on banquet tables or in the hands of exulting deities.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
The ghosts cheered and threw spectral confetti as Bacchus strode around the stadium with his arms raised triumphantly, exulting in the worship.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
