excelling

Verb

excel (third-person singular simple present excels, present participle excelling, simple past and past participle excelled)

1. (transitive) To surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something.
   • I excelled everyone else with my exam results.

   Synonyms:

   better, outclass, outperform, bear away the bell, best, overtake, dwarf, eclipse, exceed, hold the cards

2. (reflexive) To do much better than usual.
   • Everyone agreed Magnus really excelled himself this tournament.
3. (intransitive) To be much better than others.
   • But it is as a destroyer of grasshoppers that the dickcissel excels.1901, Sylvester D. Judd, The Relation of Sparrows to Agriculture, page 91

   Synonyms:

   rock, rule

4. (archaic, rare, transitive) To exceed, to go beyond.
   • She opened; but to shut / Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood […]1674, John Milton, Paradise lost, book II

   Synonyms:

   exceed, overstep, surpass, transgress, transcend, forpass, go beyond, breach, cap, outreach

See all 5 meanings of excel