# exceptional

Pronunciation: say "ik-SEP-shuh-nuhl" /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/

## Adjective

1. Notably better than average; outstanding because it is uncommon or rare.
   - Simple: Much better than what is usual or normal.
   - _Her exceptional talent set her apart from every other candidate._
   - _The hotel earned its reputation through exceptional service and attention to detail._
2. Standing apart from the ordinary course of things; uncommon or rare.
   - Simple: Not normal or usual, and happening only very rarely.
   - _The judge treated the matter as exceptional and set aside the normal procedure._
   - _Frost this late in spring is exceptional for the valley._
3. Needing special schooling because of intellectual giftedness or a physical or mental disability.
   - Simple: Needing special teaching because a child is very gifted or has a disability.
   - _Federal law guarantees support services for exceptional learners across the district._
   - _Teachers receive training to support exceptional students within mainstream classrooms._
5. In geometry, describing an object that corresponds to something of lower dimension under a birational correspondence.
   - Simple: In math, describing a shape that matches something smaller under a special change.
   - _The blow-up replaces the point with an exceptional divisor of lower dimension._
   - _Each exceptional curve contracts to a point under the birational map._

## Noun

4. Something that stands apart as an exception, or that has an unusually high value.
   - Simple: A person or thing that is very unusual or much better than the rest.
   - _In a market full of averages, this stock was the exceptional that beat every forecast._
   - _The auditors carefully separated the routine entries from the exceptionals._

## Origin

Formed from "exception" combined with the suffix "-al".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/exceptional (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).