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EXCELLENCE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("excellence" is a kind of...):
quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "excellence"):
admirability; admirableness; wonderfulness (admirable excellence)
grandness; impressiveness; magnificence; richness (splendid or imposing in size or appearance)
civilisation; civilization; refinement (the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste)
Derivation:
excel (distinguish oneself)
excellent (very good; of the highest quality)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An outstanding feature; something in which something or someone excels
Example:
the use of herbs is one of the excellencies of French cuisine
Synonyms:
excellence; excellency
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("excellence" is a kind of...):
characteristic; feature (a prominent attribute or aspect of something)
Context examples:
The excellence of his understanding and his principles can be concealed only by that shyness which too often keeps him silent.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
"It is known that his father was a mighty hunter. May not his father hunt with him so that he may attain excellence and patience and understanding? Who knows?"
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
All this spoken extremely fast obliged Miss Bates to stop for breath; and Emma said something very civil about the excellence of Miss Fairfax's handwriting.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
“Miss Price has a brother at sea,” said Edmund, “whose excellence as a correspondent makes her think you too severe upon us.”
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
And so it came to pass, that the bird, while out one day, met a fellow bird, to whom he boastfully expatiated on the excellence of his household arrangements.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Sanctioned by established authority; having authority or ascendancy or influence; of recognized authority or excellence..
(Authoritative, NCI Thesaurus)
Conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence.
(Ideal, NCI Thesaurus)
Their subjects are, generally on friendship and benevolence, on order and economy; sometimes upon the visible operations of nature, or ancient traditions; upon the bounds and limits of virtue; upon the unerring rules of reason, or upon some determinations to be taken at the next great assembly: and often upon the various excellences of poetry.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
This network, a cooperative agreement among the Children's Cancer Group, the Pediatric Oncology Group, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield System Association (BCBS) nationwide, will ensure that children of BCBS subscribers receive care at designated centers of cancer care excellence and may promote the enrollment of children in Cooperative Group clinical trials.
(Pediatric Cancer Care Network, NCI Thesaurus)
If Miss Ingram had been a good and noble woman, endowed with force, fervour, kindness, sense, I should have had one vital struggle with two tigers—jealousy and despair: then, my heart torn out and devoured, I should have admired her—acknowledged her excellence, and been quiet for the rest of my days: and the more absolute her superiority, the deeper would have been my admiration—the more truly tranquil my quiescence.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
