excel
Americanverb (used without object)
-
excels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
excelled,
past participle, past
-
excelling
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
excels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
excelled,
past participle, past
-
excelling
present participle
verb
-
to be superior to (another or others); surpass
-
(intr; foll by in or at) to be outstandingly good or proficient
he excels at tennis
Synonym Usage
Excel, outdo, surpass imply being better than others or being superior in achievement. To excel is to be superior in some quality, attainment, or performance: to excel opponents at playing chess. To outdo is to make more successful effort than others: to outdo competitors in the high jump. To surpass is to go beyond others, especially in a contest as to quality or ability: to surpass one's classmates in knowledge of corporation law.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
excelsimple
-
excelssimple
-
have excelledperfect
-
has excelledperfect
-
am excellingprogressive
-
are excellingprogressive
-
is excellingprogressive
-
have been excellingperfect progressive
-
has been excellingperfect progressive
Past
-
excelledsimple
-
had excelledperfect
-
was excellingprogressive
-
were excellingprogressive
-
had been excellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of excel
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Middle French exceller, from Latin excellere, equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + -cellere “to rise high, tower” (akin to celsus “high”)
Explanation
If you excel at math, you are doing it better than anyone else. You might even be moving so much faster than the rest of your class, you're put into a special, accelerated math program. Excel derives from the Latin excellere, which is all about going beyond the high. Someone who excels at the violin might practice five hours a day because they are striving for excellence, meaning outstanding-ness. You could describe their performance as excellent, or fantastic. That doesn't mean you yourself want to practice five hours a day. Excel means to stand out, and some of us are pretty happy standing right where we are.
Vocabulary lists containing excel
Power Prefix: ex-
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
List 4
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Civil Rights Movement"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The Swiss has played in a variety of roles for club and country in the middle of the park, but he has the attributes to potentially excel as a box-to-box midfielder.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Cobolli, 24, was the runner-up at last month's French Open and, after becoming a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, has showed again he can excel on grass.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
He was petrified by how much had to go right for him to excel in high school, college and then decades of working.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Maybe you thought you’d excel at one aspect of the job, but it turns out you have an aptitude for something completely different.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
I smile and nod and scratch “Forensics Club” off the mental list of activities I might try to excel at to impress the Excelsior judges.
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
But where the PetPhone genuinely excels is location tracking.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2026
For instance, AI excels at tasks with clear structures such as coding, legal-document review and financial analysis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Microlensing, which is expected to reveal more than 1,000 worlds, excels at finding planets farther from their stars, including systems that resemble our own solar system.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 1, 2026
At a school that excels in many different sports, the Wolverines rose to the top.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
This is one area Marv excels and delights in.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
Khan was voted in by millions of Pakistanis who grew up watching him play cricket, where he excelled as an all-rounder and led the nation to a World Cup victory in 1992.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
The seven attendees, who ranged from their mid 30s to their late 50s, had excelled in lucrative fields like finance, consulting, healthcare and tech.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Alexis Mac Allister excelled for Argentina after a below-par season at Anfield, and his effective display against England will certainly have pleased Iraola.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
He says that Lorne is someone who always excelled at deadlines.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
He excelled at reading people perhaps because he spent so many years trying to make himself unreadable.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
After excelling in pre-season and leaving fans desperate to see more of the teenager, Ndukwe will still be able to play against Como in Liverpool's final friendly on 16 August.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
There was nothing wrong with the Madison, N.J., public school Ankur Jain’s 11-year-old son attended: Arjan was happy and excelling academically.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
And Brighton's sustainable model of success has come from hiring coaches who seek to impose themselves on the game through possession, with Roberto de Zerbi and Fabian Hurzeler excelling.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
But his brother Craig’s memorializing of him, “Armed Only With a Camera,” is oddly uninvolving, more an excerpted flipbook of Brent’s far-flung assignments than a meaningful portrait of excelling at a dangerous job.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
Despite excelling there, and getting high SAT scores, he didn’t get his first college choices.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
