Adjacent Words

Excellence definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EX'CELLENCE
EXCELLENCY, n. [L. excellentia.] The state of possessing food qualities in an unusual or eminent degree; the state of excelling in any thing.
1. An valuabale quality; any thing highly laudable, meritorious or virtuous, in persons, or valuable and esteemed, in things. Purity of heart, uprightness of mind, sincerity, virtue, piety, are excellencies of character; symmetry of parts, strength and beauty are excellencies of body; an accurate knowledge of an art is an excellence in the artisan; soundness and durability are excellencies in timber; fertility, in land; elegance, in writing. In short, whatever contributes to exalt man, or to render him esteemed and happy, or to bless society, is in him an excellence.
2. Dignity; high rank in the scale of beings. Angels are beings of more excellence than men; men are beings of more excellence than brutes.
3. A title of honor formerly given to kings and emperors, now given to embassadors, governors, and other persons, below the rank of kings, but elevated above the common classes of men.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree
2: an outstanding feature; something in which something or someone excels; "a center of manufacturing excellence"; "the use of herbs is one of the excellencies of French cuisine" [syn: excellence, excellency]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century 1. the quality of being excellent 2. an excellent or valuable quality ; virtue 3. excellency 2

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the state of excelling; surpassing merit or quality. 2 the activity etc. in which a person excels. Etymology: ME f. OF excellence or L excellentia (as EXCEL)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Excellence Ex"cel*lence, n. [F. excellence, L. excellentia.] 1. The quality of being excellent; state of possessing good qualities in an eminent degree; exalted merit; superiority in virtue. Consider first that great Or bright infers not excellence. --Milton. 2. An excellent or valuable quality; that by which any one excels or is eminent; a virtue. With every excellence refined. --Beattie. 3. A title of honor or respect; -- more common in the form excellency. I do greet your excellence With letters of commission from the king. --Shak. Syn: Superiority; pre["e]minence; perfection; worth; goodness; purity; greatness.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If someone or something has the quality of excellence, they are extremely good in some way. ...the top US award for excellence in journalism and the arts. see also par excellence

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Superiority, eminence, distinction, pre-eminence, transcendence. 2. Good quality, superior quality, superior goodness, superiority. 3. Valuable point or property or characteristic, advantage, good point, good quality, valuable feature or trait. 4. Worth, goodness, uprightness, probity, purity.

Moby Thesaurus

accomplishment, acquired taste, advantageousness, agreeableness, appreciation of excellence, arete, ascendancy, auspiciousness, beneficialness, benevolence, benignity, choiceness, civilized taste, civilizedness, class, cogency, consequence, conspicuousness, cultivated taste, cultivation, culture, daintiness, deanship, delicacy, desert, discrimination, distinction, elegance, elevation, eminence, exaltation, excellency, expedience, fairness, fastidiousness, favor, favorableness, fineness, finesse, first-rateness, good taste, goodliness, goodness, grace, gracefulness, gracility, graciosity, graciousness, grandeur, greatness, healthiness, helpfulness, high mightiness, importance, incomparability, inimitability, kindness, lead, loftiness, majority, mark, merit, niceness, nicety, nobility, notability, note, one-upmanship, outstandingness, perfection, pleasantness, polish, precedence, predominance, predomination, preeminence, preponderance, prepotence, prepotency, prerogative, prestige, priority, privilege, profitableness, prominence, quality, refinement, rewardingness, right-of-way, seniority, significance, skill, skillfulness, sophistication, soundness, sublimity, subtlety, success, superbness, supereminence, superiority, supremacy, taste, tastefulness, transcendence, transcendency, usefulness, validity, value, virtue, virtuosity, virtuousness, wholeness, worth