Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: Latin
Origin: excellere, from -cellere 'to rise, stick up'

excel

 verb
     
ex‧cel past tense and past participle excelled, present participle excelling
1 [intransitive, not in progressive] to do something very well, or much better than most people
excel at/in
Rick has always excelled at foreign languages.
2

excel yourself

British English to do something better than you usually do:
Graham has excelled himself with the new exhibition.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
 
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