exalt

[ig-zawlt]

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verb (used with object)

to raise in rank, honor, power, character, quality, etc.; elevate: He was exalted to the position of president.

to praise; extol: to exalt someone to the skies.

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.

Nearby words

Origin of exalt

1375–1425; late Middle English exalten < Latin exaltāre to lift up, equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + alt(us) high + -āre infinitive ending

SYNONYMS FOR exalt

1. promote, dignify, raise, ennoble. 2. glorify.

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ANTONYMS FOR exalt

1. humble. 2. depreciate.

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Related formsex·alt·er, nounself-ex·alt·ing, adjectivesu·per·ex·alt, verb (used with object)un·ex·alt·ing, adjective

Can be confusedexalt exult

Synonym study

1. See elevate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for exalting

Exert your royal gifts in exalting only the lowly and humbling only the proud.
Notes of a Son and Brother|Henry James
By exalting apathy in regard to personal suffering, it becomes insensible to others' pain also.
Apologia Diffidentis|W. Compton Leith
There is nothing more easy than to vaporize reality altogether, by way of exalting a philosophy.
The Philosophy of Natural Theology|William Jackson
It appears to place substances to which it is affixed in a superlative sense, and always as exalting the object.
Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers|Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

It may be urged that in exalting Hales I am unfair to Malpighi.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists|Various

British Dictionary definitions for exalting

exalt

verb (tr)

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

Derived Formsexalter, noun

Word Origin for exalt

C15: from Latin exaltāre to raise, from altus high

usage

Exalt is sometimes wrongly used where exult is meant: he was exulting (not exalting) in his win earlier that day

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for exalting

exalt

late 14c., from Old French exalter (10c.), from Latin exaltare "raise, elevate," from ex- "out, up" (see ex-) + altus "high" (see old). Related: Exalted; exalting.