EXCELLING Synonyms: 56 Similar and Opposite Words

excelling

verb

present participle of excel

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

losing (to)

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 But the trifecta of excelling in distance running, swimming and the classroom is trumped by another athletic endeavor that took Thompson across the Atlantic Ocean two weeks ago. — Buddy Collings, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Oct. 2026 Jack Wolf Westwood Lincoln Riley talks a big game about excelling in the Big Ten, but in losing badly to Oregon and its backup quarterback, USC probably couldn’t win the Pac-12 this year. — Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2026 Golden State was the best defensive team in the WNBA during the regular season by a convincing margin, particularly excelling at protecting the paint. — Sabreena Merchant, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2026 The holistic approach was designed to highlight cities that perform consistently well across all categories, rather than excelling in only one or two areas. — Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 1 Sep. 2026 Highlights of Daniels excelling for the Tigers in big games might be considered within the ambit of newsworthiness and defeat a right-of-publicity claim. — Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 15 Aug. 2026 Several players impressed, with fifth-round pick Jacob Monk excelling at left guard, working with the first-team offense and showing versatility. — Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026 Power of women CEOs Stock performance aside, women chief executives are already excelling in their management roles in a trend Lizarraga first noticed about 20 years ago. — Michelle Fox, CNBC, 6 Aug. 2026 Willis grew up as a dancer, excelling in ballet, contemporary, jazz and hip-hop, and dancing competitively at a private studio and throughout high school. — Gustavo Turner, HollywoodReporter, 24 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for excelling

Verb

Businesses remained the main source of research investment, with enterprise spending exceeding around $420 billion for the first time, accounting for more than 77% of the national total.

— Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2026
He is also accused of exceeding his authority under Ohio law by failing to identify any statutory or constitutional source of legal authority for his order.

— Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of exceeding

Verb

That would see her in the role into January 2029, surpassing Sarah Sanders’s time of almost two years in the job.

— Rob Crilly, The Washington Examiner, 13 Oct. 2026
That’s easily the most for any calendar year since AAA started tracking in 2000, surpassing the prior record of 158 in 2022 during the Biden administration, much of which was attributed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

— Matt Egan, CNN Money, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of surpassing

Verb

For Spring/ Summer 2027, established ambassadors and global fandoms continued to drive social engagement, with Thai drama stars eclipsing K-pop idols for the first time to dominate the overall ranking.

— Amy Francombe, Vogue, 13 Oct. 2026
In getting out ahead of OpenAI, Zuckerberg is building on the momentum of Muse, which skyrocketed to the top of Apple's App Store, eclipsing ChatGPT.

— Jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of eclipsing

Verb

In 2014, a municipal utility created in the Contra Costa city of Hercules was sold to PG&E after about a decade in operation and losses topping $9 million.

— Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 14 Oct. 2026
The strongest gusts are expect in the North Bay, with peak wind gusts topping 40 miles an hour, the weather service said.

— Carlos E. Castañeda, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of topping

Browse Nearby Words

excellently

excelling

excels

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Style

“Excelling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excelling. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of excelling

verb

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