(usually initial capital letter) Also Excellence. a title of honor given to certain high officials, as governors, ambassadors, and Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops (preceded by his, your, etc.).
(usually initial capital letter) a person so entitled.
(usually initial capital letter) the title of the governor general of Canada while in office.
Usually excellencies. excellent qualities or features.
a title used to address or refer to a high-ranking official, such as an ambassador or governor
RC Church a title of bishops and archbishops in many non-English-speaking countries
1275–1325; Middle English excellencie < Latin excellentia. See excellent, -ency
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It's just another example of our partnership. And I hope you know, your excellency, that you can count on us."
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2025
“The document shows Brazil has fulfilled with excellency all the rigid demands of the bidding process,” Brazilian soccer confederation president Ednaldo Rodrigues said.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2024
"I send greetings of good wishes to your excellency and the People of China," the Pope said in the telegram addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
From Reuters ● Sep. 1, 2023
“I would request your excellency to kindly convey this small message to the world leaders and big and rich nations to help and save our tiny village from global warming,” she wrote.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 26, 2022
This encroachment upon the assembly’s privileges gave rise to a great deal of ill feeling, and many acrimonious messages passed between his excellency and the members of that body.
From Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume I (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Anonymous
In 1922, Jewan Singh & Sons was appointed watchmaker to the governor of the Punjab, His Excellency Sir Edward Maclagan, knight commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025
Here, he is formally referred to as: His Excellency, Randy “R Dub!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2025
He wrote excitedly to a cardinal in Rome, praising Gutenberg and his pages, which he declared “exceedingly clean and correct in their script, and without error, such as Your Excellency could read effortlessly without glasses.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
Addressing Museveni directly, Bahati added, "So, Excellency, we want to thank you that the mustard seed you planted with the National Prayer Breakfast is growing."
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2023
He invited the president of France, the president of the United States, the president of Russia, Italy, Germany, and China, as well as our own president, His Excellency, the President for Life Papa Doc Duvalier.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
"Prince Joachim's descendants will thus have to be addressed as excellencies in the future."
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2022
“In yours, you could, and should, witness a wonderful recovery. That desperate hope — ladies and gentlemen, delegates, excellencies — is why the world is looking to you and why you are here.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2021
These excellencies are small moments tucked into a baggy novel that struggles to find its focus.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2020
Pope’s solution was to flag the excellencies with a comma in the margin—or, if they were particularly “shining” examples, with a star—whereas “excessively bad” passages were “degraded to the bottom of the page.”
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 6, 2015
She was very young, very pretty, very sweet-tempered, and, best of all, very rich; and he knew no one else who possessed such a combination of excellencies.
From A Gamble with Life by Hocking, Silas K. (Silas Kitto)
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.
