as in exceeding
to be greater, better, or stronger than
the special effects in this new sci-fi extravaganza excel any that we've seen previously
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of excelling
Dee Farrand, 57, of Marana, Arizona, could once run five miles and was excelling at her job in sales.
—
Stephanie Armour, Miami Herald, 28 Jan. 2026
Dee Farrand, 57, of Marana, Arizona, could once run five miles and was excelling at her job in sales.
—Stephanie Armour, CBS News, 27 Jan. 2026
John Brodie’s Success Beyond Football Brodie was a man of many hats, excelling as a golfer and television analyst.
—Trevor Woods, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
Parker excelling in that area was a big positive.
—Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Jan. 2026
The national rankings, published in October, recognize K-8 schools excelling in academics and student achievement.
—Tanasia Kenney, Charlotte Observer, 22 Jan. 2026
Under current manager Oliver Glasner, Palace have traded that dribbling flair for runs in behind, with Jean-Philippe Mateta, Ismaila Sarr and last summer's signing Yeremy Pino all excelling in that area.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2026
And especially for a teenager such as Lehman, who continued to play hockey, and also made time for lacrosse and baseball while excelling in school.
—Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 10 Jan. 2026
George Ramsey has impressed in net early on, while forwards Matty Regan, Liam Dolan and Wolfgang Zinger are excelling.
—Tom Mulherin, Boston Herald, 9 Jan. 2026
Stephanie Armour, Miami Herald, 28 Jan. 2026
Dee Farrand, 57, of Marana, Arizona, could once run five miles and was excelling at her job in sales.
—Stephanie Armour, CBS News, 27 Jan. 2026
John Brodie’s Success Beyond Football Brodie was a man of many hats, excelling as a golfer and television analyst.
—Trevor Woods, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
Parker excelling in that area was a big positive.
—Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Jan. 2026
The national rankings, published in October, recognize K-8 schools excelling in academics and student achievement.
—Tanasia Kenney, Charlotte Observer, 22 Jan. 2026
Under current manager Oliver Glasner, Palace have traded that dribbling flair for runs in behind, with Jean-Philippe Mateta, Ismaila Sarr and last summer's signing Yeremy Pino all excelling in that area.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2026
And especially for a teenager such as Lehman, who continued to play hockey, and also made time for lacrosse and baseball while excelling in school.
—Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 10 Jan. 2026
George Ramsey has impressed in net early on, while forwards Matty Regan, Liam Dolan and Wolfgang Zinger are excelling.
—Tom Mulherin, Boston Herald, 9 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excelling
Verb
-
Rather, anyone exceeding the gift-tax threshold in a single year must file the gift tax return form, and that excess amount counts against their lifetime exclusion amount.—
Christine Benz,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
-
He is now engaged in an ongoing insurrection by violating the Constitution, exceeding his lawful authorities, usurping Congress, and encouraging Republican states to manipulate voting districts and procedures.—
Washington Post,
Washington Post,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The Spaniard also become the youngest man in the Open Era to seal seven grand slam titles, surpassing the record previously held by Bjorn Borg.—
Issy Ronald,
CNN Money,
1 Feb. 2026
-
Djokovic surpassing Rosewall’s record would also highlight how the tennis world has been desensitized to his evergreen brilliance.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
31 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Kepler alone identified around 3,000 eclipsing binaries, where the stars regularly pass in front of each other from our point of view.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Jan. 2026
-
But in many organizations, that lesson gets distorted, with speaking eclipsing the far more powerful discipline of listening.—
Cheryl Robinson,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
From the pudding to the fluffy meringue topping, this recipe is made totally from scratch.—
Josh Miller,
Southern Living,
1 Feb. 2026
-
In addition to topping the Netflix charts, its soundtrack has spent several weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.—
Nicole Fell,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Excelling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excelling. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
