exult
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
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to be joyful or jubilant, esp because of triumph or success; rejoice
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(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
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exultssimple
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have exultedperfect
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has exultedperfect
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are exultingprogressive
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am exultingprogressive
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is exultingprogressive
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have been exultingperfect progressive
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has been exultingperfect progressive
Past
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exultedsimple
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had exultedperfect
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was exultingprogressive
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were exultingprogressive
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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.
So the Bistonian race, a maddening train, Exult and revel on the Thracian plain.
From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Exult, O metaphysic, at the consummation of thy glories.
From Lives of the English Poets From Johnson to Kirke White, Designed as a Continuation of Johnson's Lives by Cary, Henry Francis
How long shall my proud enemy, Who only meaneth ill to me, Exult o'er me in triumph?
From Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs Translated by John Kelly by Gerhardt, Paul
Exult, ye brutes, traduced and scorn'd, Though true to nature's plan; Exult, ye bristled, and ye horn'd, When infants govern man.
From May Day with the Muses by Bloomfield, Robert
Nor let the tyrant and his son Exult before the fight be done.
From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)
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.
