exalt

verb

ex·​alt ig-ˈzȯlt 

exalted; exalting; exalts

transitive verb

1

: to raise in rank, power, or character

2

: to elevate by praise or in estimation : glorify

3

obsolete : elate

4

: to raise high : elevate

5

: to enhance the activity of : intensify

rousing and exalting the imagination

—George Eliot

intransitive verb

: to induce exaltation

exalter noun

Synonyms

• elevate
• promote

Examples of exalt in a Sentence

His behavior has exalted the power and prestige of his office.

The essay exalts the simple beauty of the country.

We exalt thee, O Lord.

He shamelessly exalts his own role in the peace process.

Recent Examples on the Web

Weeping delights in the exalted, the sublime, the magnificent — a symphony, a vista, megafauna, even a brilliant dissertation. —Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025

In developing proprietary colors and in-house embroideries, the late founder set a template that Shukla is exalting. —Miles Socha, Footwear News, 22 Sep. 2025

Summer is usually the time of long days and longer vacations, but summer 2025 was a season where the business world’s inviolable godhead, the chief executive officer, looked less and less like a position worth exalting. —Ian Chaffee, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2025

While knowledge has been exalted by artists, poets, philosophers and scientists, dictatorships have been opposed not only by great humanists but also by science itself. —Davide Sartini, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin exaltare, from ex- + altus high — more at old

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for exalt

• asphalt
• assault
• basalt
• cobalt
• default
• gestalt
• alt
• fault
• gault
• halt
• malt
• sault

Kids Definition

exalt

verb

ex·​alt ig-ˈzȯlt 

1

: to raise in rank, power, or character

2

: to praise highly : glorify

exalter noun

Medical Definition

exalt

transitive verb

ex·​alt ig-ˈzȯlt 

: to cause (virulence) to increase

virulence exalted by addition of mucin to a bacterial culture

also : to increase the virulence of

exalt a virus by repeated rapid passage through susceptible hosts