exceed
Formsexceeds, exceeding, exceeded
- 1To go beyond a particular limit, or to be greater or longer than something.
The cost of repairs may exceed the value of the car.
Annual rainfall here can exceed forty inches in a wet year.
Similarsurpass, top, pass, overshoot
Note
Here the word marks a line not to be crossed, and it is at home in rules and caps: a password cannot exceed eight characters. Shakespeare's Othello already sets a time limit with it ("let it not / Exceed three days"), and modern prose still speaks of exceeding the limits of one's training. Of all the senses, this one stays nearest the literal Latin "go beyond" behind the 'greater than' meaning.
- 2To be larger in size or greater in amount than something else.
Production costs now exceed projected revenue by a wide margin.
The building's height exceeds local zoning limits.
Note
Every sense of the verb goes back to Latin excēdō, "to go beyond," built from ex- ("out") and cēdō ("to go"), the same verb found in cede and accede. It partly displaced Old English ofersteppan, which survives as overstep. In comparisons it takes a direct object, never than: this year's revenue exceeds that of last year.
- 3To be better than something else in quality or performance.
These students consistently exceed the standards set for their grade.
The new model's performance exceeds that of its rivals.
Similarsurpass, outdo, outperform, beat, top
- 4To be the greater part; to predominate over everything else present.
Throughout the debate, voices for reform exceeded, drowning out every objection.
In the assembly, those favoring peace exceed, and the motion carries.
Similarpredominate, prevail, dominate
Less common meaning
- 5To go too far; to behave excessively or overstep proper bounds.
Note
The going-beyond turns moral in this obsolete use: overstepping moderation in conduct or appetite. Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) says old men "do most exceed in this point of folly." There is no object, only exceed in something. Modern English says go too far instead, so this construction belongs to period voices and historical fiction, not to current writing.
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from Middle English 'exceden', from Old French 'exceder', from Latin 'excēdō' ('to go beyond'), which combines 'ex-' ('out, forth') with 'cēdō' ('to go'); compare 'cede' and 'accede'. It partly displaced the native Old English 'ofersteppan', source of Modern English 'overstep'.