exceptional

See also: excepțional

English

Etymology

From exception +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧cep‧tion‧al

Adjective

exceptional (comparative more exceptional, superlative most exceptional)

1. Forming an exception; not ordinary; uncommon; rare.

   What an exceptional meal!

2. Better than the average; superior due to exception or rarity.

   The quality of the beer was exceptional.

3. (geometry) Corresponding to something of lower dimension under a birational correspondence.

   an exceptional curve; an exceptional divisor

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:excellent
• egregious (most often used negatively, however)

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “forming an exception”): ordinary, categorical, common, general, usual
• (antonym(s) of “superior due to exception or rarity”): ordinary, mediocre, commonplace

Derived terms

• dual-exceptional
• eggceptional
• exceptional case-marking
• exceptionalism
• exceptionalist
• exceptionality
• exceptionally
• exceptionalness
• exceptional space
• exceptional zero
• nonexceptional
• twice-exceptional
• unexceptional

 

Translations

forming an exception

• Arabic: اِسْتِثْنَائِيّ (istiṯnāʔiyy)
• Asturian: esceicional
• Azerbaijani: müstəsna
• Belarusian: вынятко́вы (vynjatkóvy)
• Bulgarian: изключи́телен (bg) (izključítelen)
• Catalan: excepcional (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 異常 / 异常 (zh) (yìcháng), 特異 / 特异 (zh) (tèyì), 特殊 (zh) (tèshū), 特別 / 特别 (zh) (tèbié), 例外 (zh) (lìwài)

• Czech: výjimečný (cs) m
• Danish: eksceptionel, ganske særlig, ekstraordinær
• Dutch: buitengewoon (nl), exceptioneel (nl), uitzonderlijk (nl)
• Esperanto: escepta
• Finnish: poikkeuksellinen (fi), harvinainen (fi), tavaton (fi)
• French: exceptionnel (fr)
• German: außergewöhnlich (de)
• Greek: εξαιρετικός (el) m (exairetikós)
• Hungarian: kivételes (hu), rendkívüli (hu)
• Irish: eisceachtúil
• Italian: eccezionale (it)
• Japanese: 特殊な (ja) (tokushu na), 特異な (ja) (tokui na), 特別な (ja) (tokubetsu na), 例外的な (ja) (reigaiteki na)
• Latin: eximius
• Macedonian: исклучителен (isklučitelen)
• Malayalam: അസാധാരണ (ml) (asādhāraṇa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: eksepsjonell

  Nynorsk: eksepsjonell

• Polish: wyjątkowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: excepcional (pt), excecional (Portugal)
• Russian: исключи́тельный (ru) (isključítelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: air leth
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: изузетан

  Roman: izuzetan (sh)

• Slovak: výnimočný
• Slovene: izjemen
• Spanish: excepcional (es)
• Ukrainian: винятко́вий (vynjatkóvyj)

superior due to exception or rarity

• Arabic: اِسْتِثْنَائِيّ (istiṯnāʔiyy)
• Azerbaijani: müstəsna
• Belarusian: вынятко́вы (vynjatkóvy), адме́нны (admjénny), адме́тны (be) (admjétny)
• Bulgarian: отли́чен (bg) (otlíčen), изключи́телен (bg) (izključítelen)
• Catalan: excepcional (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 優越 / 优越 (zh) (yōuyuè), 傑出 / 杰出 (zh) (jiéchū), 優異 / 优异 (zh) (yōuyì), 非凡 (zh) (fēifán), 超群 (zh) (chāoqún)

• Czech: výjimečný (cs) m
• Danish: enestående, eksceptionel
• Finnish: poikkeuksellinen (fi), erinomainen (fi)
• French: exceptionnel (fr)
• Friulian: famôs
• German: außergewöhnlich (de)
• Greek: εξαιρετικός (el) m (exairetikós)
• Hebrew: מְצֻיָּן (he) m (metzuyyán)
• Hungarian: kivételes (hu), rendkívüli (hu)
• Irish: eisceachtúil
• Italian: eccezionale (it)
• Japanese: 並外れた (ja) (namihazureta), 別格の (ja) (bekkaku no), 非凡な (ja) (hibon na)
• Latin: eximius
• Malayalam: അസാധാരണ (ml) (asādhāraṇa)
• Maori: inati
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: eksepsjonell

  Nynorsk: eksepsjonell

• Polish: wyjątkowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: excepcional (pt), excecional (Portugal)
• Russian: исключи́тельный (ru) (isključítelʹnyj), отли́чный (ru) (otlíčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: air leth
• Spanish: excepcional (es)
• Ukrainian: винятко́вий (vynjatkóvyj), відмі́нний (uk) (vidmínnyj)

Noun

exceptional (plural exceptionals)

1. An exception, or something having an exceptional value
   • 1909, Pediatrics, volume 21, page 276:

     Above and beyond all these exceptionals, by reason of divergencies from the norms of mental and of physical status, there are quite a number of moral defectives.