different between incomparable vs excellent

English

Etymology

From Middle French incomparable, from Old French [Term?], from Latin incompar?bilis.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???k?mp(?)r?b?l/, /??k?m?pær?b?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???k?mp(?)r?b?l/, /??k?m?p?r?b?l/

Adjective

incomparable (comparative more incomparable, superlative most incomparable)

1. So much better than another as to be beyond comparison; matchless or unsurpassed.
   • c. 1905, Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, (1909), Robert Baldwin Ross, ed., page 112:

     I know of nothing in all drama more incomparable from the point of view of art, nothing more suggestive in its subtlety of observation, than Shakespeare's drawing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

2. (rare) Not able to be compared.

Usage notes

• Using more or most with incomparable, though often disapproved, is relatively common. Such uses may once have only been accepted for poetic effect, but are now widespread.
• Despite its apparently absolute meaning, incomparable is often used as if there were degrees of incomparability, occurring with adverbs such as so and very.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

incomparable (plural incomparables)

1. Something beyond compare; a thing with which there is no comparison.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin incompar?bilis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /i?.kom.p???a.bl?/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /i?.kum.p???a.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /i?.kom.pa??a.ble/

Adjective

incomparable (masculine and feminine plural incomparables)

1. uncomparable, incomparable

   Antonym: comparable

Derived terms

• incomparablement

Further reading

• “incomparable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “incomparable” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “incomparable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “incomparable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Latin incompar?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.k??.pa.?abl/

Adjective

incomparable (plural incomparables)

1. incomparable; uncomparable

   Antonym: comparable

Derived terms

• incomparablement

Further reading

• “incomparable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin incompar?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inkompa??able/, [??.kõm.pa??a.??le]

Adjective

incomparable (plural incomparables)

1. uncomparable

   Antonym: comparable

Derived terms

• incomparablemente

Further reading

• “incomparable” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

From Middle English excellent, from Old French excellent, from Latin excell?ns (“elevated, exalted”), present participle of excell? (“elevate, exult”), equivalent to excel +? -ent.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??ks?l?nt/, /??ks?l?nt/

Adjective

excellent (comparative excellenter or more excellent, superlative excellentest or most excellent)

1. Having excelled, having surpassed.
2. Of higher or the highest quality; splendid.

   • A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.

3. Exceptionally good of its kind.

4. Superior in kind or degree, irrespective of moral quality.
   • 1754-1762, David Hume, The History of England

     Elizabeth, therefore, who was an excellent hypocrite

   • Their sorrows are most excellent.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:excellent

Antonyms

• poor
• terrible

Derived terms

• excellence
• excellently
• excellentness

Related terms

• excel

Translations

Adverb

excellent (comparative more excellent, superlative most excellent)

1. (obsolete) Excellently.
   • , New York Review Books 2001, p.287:

     Lucian, in his tract de Mercede conductis, hath excellent well deciphered such men's proceedings in his picture of Opulentia […].

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch excellent, from Middle French excellent, from Old French excellent, from Latin excell?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??k.s??l?nt/
• Hyphenation: ex?cel?lent
• Rhymes: -?nt

Adjective

excellent (comparative excellenter, superlative excellentst)

1. (formal) excellent, splendid

   Synonyms: uitmuntend, uitstekend

Inflection

Related terms

• excellentie

French

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin excellens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k.s?.l??/

Adjective

excellent (feminine singular excellente, masculine plural excellents, feminine plural excellentes)

1. excellent; splendid

Usage notes

This adjective is generally placed before the noun it modifies.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k.s?l/

Verb

excellent

1. third-person plural present indicative of exceller
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of exceller

Further reading

• “excellent” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

excellent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of excell?

Middle French

Noun

excellent m (feminine singular excellente, masculine plural excellens, feminine plural excellentes)

1. excellent

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin excell?ns.

Pronunciation

Adjective

excellent m (feminine singular excellenta, masculine plural excellents, feminine plural excellentas)

1. excellent

Related terms

• excelléncia
• excellir