as in surpasses
to be greater, better, or stronger than
the special effects in this new sci-fi extravaganza excel any that we've seen previously
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Recent Examples of excels
Why The Trifle Is The Best Party Dessert Enter the chocolate trifle, a beloved Southern staple, courtesy of a good friend who excels at hospitality but values shortcuts.
—
Kathryn Streeter, Southern Living, 17 June 2026
Our press corps currently excels in pursuing and finding the truth in many difficult situations.
—Chicago Tribune, 15 June 2026
Fable 5 and Mythos 5 build on Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview, a powerful model that excels at identifying security vulnerabilities within software.
—Ashley Capoot,annie Palmer, CNBC, 15 June 2026
Neither is universally better; Terminix excels at specialized termite removal, while Orkin offers superior technician training and broader general pest coverage.
—Nick Perry, USA Today, 14 June 2026
Canada’s big winner for this year excels across many of the report’s top criteria.
—Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 12 June 2026
Navy excels at untangling human emotions and picking through them without being didactic or moralistic.
—Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 10 June 2026
One of the most important aspects in evaluating a VPN is server count, and Surfshark excels, with 4,500 servers in 100 countries available for instant connection.
—K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 10 June 2026
What these roles demonstrate is that Lopez excels at playing flinty women trying to survive who use their wit and cunning to outsmart the men around them.
—Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 8 June 2026
Kathryn Streeter, Southern Living, 17 June 2026
Our press corps currently excels in pursuing and finding the truth in many difficult situations.
—Chicago Tribune, 15 June 2026
Fable 5 and Mythos 5 build on Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview, a powerful model that excels at identifying security vulnerabilities within software.
—Ashley Capoot,annie Palmer, CNBC, 15 June 2026
Neither is universally better; Terminix excels at specialized termite removal, while Orkin offers superior technician training and broader general pest coverage.
—Nick Perry, USA Today, 14 June 2026
Canada’s big winner for this year excels across many of the report’s top criteria.
—Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 12 June 2026
Navy excels at untangling human emotions and picking through them without being didactic or moralistic.
—Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 10 June 2026
One of the most important aspects in evaluating a VPN is server count, and Surfshark excels, with 4,500 servers in 100 countries available for instant connection.
—K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 10 June 2026
What these roles demonstrate is that Lopez excels at playing flinty women trying to survive who use their wit and cunning to outsmart the men around them.
—Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 8 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excels
Verb
-
The total for the former first four on the list, Visa, Airbnb (2020), Cerebras Systems (2026), and Snowflake (2020) barely surpasses the rocket and AI giant’s mark.—
Shawn Tully,
Fortune,
19 June 2026
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Still, that far surpasses the 2015 deal, which only lifted some sanctions in exchange for Iran drastically reducing its enrichment and stockpile of uranium.—
Michelle L. Price,
Los Angeles Times,
17 June 2026
Verb
-
Display Color Gamut Volume (CGV) is equivalent or exceeds the CGV of the DCI-P3 color space as verified independently by Intertek.—
Nam Sunwoo,
Variety,
19 June 2026
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The deployment is nearly as large as one-third of its total uniformed force and exceeds the number of officers deployed at prior major events, including New Year’s Eve in Times Square and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.—
Mark Morales,
CNN Money,
18 June 2026
Verb
-
Vest tops with corporate silhouettes done up in unexpected fringe or sequins?—
Stacia Datskovska,
Footwear News,
21 June 2026
-
The New York City metro area tops all metros with 63 cities where a starter home runs $1 million or more.—
Sydney Lake,
Fortune,
17 June 2026
Verb
-
Anthropic now eclipses its rival, which was valued at $852 billion in March.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
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Leapfrogs OpenAI With the latest funding round, which was led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital, Anthropic eclipses OpenAI in valuation for the first time.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
29 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Excels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excels. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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