exceptional

See also: excepțional

English

Etymology

From exception +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/, [ɪ-], [ɛ-] (please verify the latter)

• 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!

   1. (education, of a student) Requiring special schooling for reasons of intellectual giftedness or physical or mental disability.

      The origins of the conditions and disorders that exceptional learners have are not always well understood.

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.