Meaning & use
exceled or excelled
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“exceled or excelled” is a form of “excel”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbintransitive
Past tense of excel: was exceptionally good at something or did much better than others.
Grammar: No object; usually followed by at or in: She excelled at math. Never say 'excelled something'.
Patterns
- excelled at something
- excelled in something
- excelled academically
She excelled at tennis from a very young age.
He excelled in all his science classes last year.
The team excelled under pressure and won the championship.
verbintransitive
Past tense of excel: surpassed others or performed better than before.
Grammar: Often used with a comparison: excelled beyond expectations. No direct object.
Patterns
- excelled beyond something
- excelled in comparison
Her performance excelled beyond everyone's expectations.
This year's sales excelled compared with last year's.
Common combinations
- excelled at
- She excelled at public speaking in college.
- excelled in
- He excelled in mathematics and physics.
- excelled academically
- The scholarship is for students who have excelled academically.
- excelled beyond expectations
- The new employee excelled beyond expectations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shone
- More informal and often means stood out in a particular moment; excelled suggests sustained high performance.
- surpassed
- Usually transitive: surpassed the record. Excelled is intransitive and focuses on personal quality.
- outdid
- Often followed by oneself or another person, meaning did better than; excelled is more about general skill.
Opposites
Word family
- excel verb
- To be exceptionally good at something.
- excellence noun
- The quality of being extremely good.
- excellent adjective
- Extremely good; of very high quality.
- excelling verb
- Present participle of excel.
Commonly confused: exceled or excelled or exceled? exceled or excelled or exhaled?
exceled or excelled vs exceled
A misspelling with one l. The correct past tense is excelled with double l.
exceled or excelled vs exhaled
Sounds similar but means breathed out; completely different meaning.
Practice
Which sentence uses the correct past tense form of excel?
Choose one answer.
The correct past tense is excelled with double l. Exceled is a misspelling, has exceled uses the wrong form, and was excel is grammatically incorrect.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “exceled or excelled”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.