excellence
Americannoun
-
excellences
plural
-
the fact or state of excelling; superiority; eminence.
his excellence in mathematics.
- Synonyms:
- distinction, transcendence, preeminence
-
an excellent quality or feature.
Use of herbs is one of the excellences of French cuisine.
- Antonyms:
- inferiority
-
(usually initial capital letter) excellency.
noun
-
the state or quality of excelling or being exceptionally good; extreme merit; superiority
-
an action, characteristic, feature, etc, in which a person excels
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of excellence
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin excellentia; equivalent to excel + -ence
Explanation
Excellence means greatness — the very best. Achieving excellence is never easy to do. Excellence is a quality that people really appreciate, because it's so hard to find. Excellence is the quality of excelling, of being truly the best at something. Getting an A+ shows excellence. Michael Jordan's basketball career was filled with excellence. We love Picasso and Shakespeare for their excellence. When you see excellence, you should appreciate the work that went into it. So much in the world falls short of excellence.
Vocabulary lists containing excellence
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ance, -ence
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"CLEP Principles of Management," Vocabulary from Chapter 10
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"The MGMT Solution," Vocabulary from Chapter 16
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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:
When I was a child, "Clyde-built" really meant something: craftsmanship and engineering excellence.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
A kitchen can demand excellence without demanding suffering.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
“They have a true operator running the company for the first time in a long time,” although it will be a long road to operational excellence, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Making the playoffs in Major League Baseball is supposed to be a mark of excellence, a reward given only to the most deserving for enduring the grueling marathon of 162 games in roughly 180 days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
In the 1660s, Cambridge was far from being a centre of academic excellence.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
It is a film of excellences, never more so than in the performances by Robert De Niro and a remarkable supporting cast.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2023
The days after VE Day were perfect for a tragic English opera with an English setting, and its musical excellences were supplemented by a sense of its national significance.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 7, 2013
Yet he also fears, and will presumably fight, any government move which, "on a doctrinaire point of social policy, uproots the individual excellences of these schools."
From Time Magazine Archive
That these excellences are unintentional in no way detracts from the power of Ten Nights in a Bar-Room.
From Time Magazine Archive
The worst excesses, the most undesirable conventions of the Elizabethans, excited imitation as much as their excellences.
From Tragedy by Ashley H. Thorndike
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.
