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Excel vs Excellent - What's the difference?

excel | excellent |

As a verb excel

is to surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something.

As a proper noun Excel

is a spreadsheet application software program written and distributed by Microsoft.

As an adjective excellent is

of the highest quality; splendid.

As an adverb excellent is

excellently.

excel

English

Verb

(excell)
  • To surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something.
  • * '>citation
    •     La Rochefoucauld, the French philosopher, said: "If
    you want enemies, excel' your friends; but if you want
    friends, let your friends '''excel''' you."
        Why is that true? Because when our friends '''excel''' us,
    that gives them a feeling of importance; but when we '     excel
    them, that gives them a feeling of inferiority and arouses
    envy and jealousy.
    I excelled everyone else with my exam results.
  • To be much better than others.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=November 12 , author= , title=International friendly: England 1-0 Spain , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Lescott gave his finest England performance alongside his former Everton team-mate Phil Jagielka, who also excelled despite playing with a fractured toe, while Parker was given a deserved standing ovation when he was substituted late on.}}
  • * 1924 : ARISTOTLE. Metaphysics . Translated by W. D. Ross. Nashotah, Wisconsin, USA: The Classical Library, 2001. Available at: . Book 1, Part 2.
    • If, then, there is something in what the poets say, and jealousy is natural to the divine power, it would probably occur in this case above all, and all who excelled in this knowledge would be unfortunate.
  • (rare) To exceed, to go beyond
  • * 1674 , Paradise lost, , by Milton
    • She opened; but to shut / Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood
  • * XIX century , , by Emily Dickinson
    • I reason, we could die : / The best vitality / Cannot excel decay; / But what of that?

    References

    * English intransitive verbs English transitive verbs

    excellent

    English

    (wikipedia excellent)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Of the highest quality; splendid.
  • *
  • *:A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.
  • Exceptionally good of its kind.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.}}
  • Superior in kind or degree, irrespective of moral quality.
  • *(David Hume) (1711-1776)
  • *:an excellent hypocrite
  • *(Beaumont and Fletcher) (1603-1625)
  • *:Their sorrows are most excellent .

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * excellence * excellently * excellentness

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (obsolete) Excellently.
  • *, New York Review Books 2001, p.287:
    • Lucian, in his tract de Mercede conductis , hath excellent well deciphered such men's proceedings in his picture of Opulentia […].

    Statistics

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