Excellent means extremely good — among the best of its kind. An excellent meal, excellent work, an excellent idea.
It is a strong word that has been softened by use: in British English excellent is often simply a warm yes, said in reply to an arrangement. That inflation is worth knowing, because on a school report or in a job reference excellent still means the top band and is meant literally. The adverb excellently is rare and slightly awkward; very well usually goes instead. The noun is excellence, and Your Excellency is how an ambassador is addressed.
1adjectiveexcellentExtremely good; among the best.
“The food was excellent and the service was not.”
synonyms: outstanding, superb, first-rate
2adjectiveagreeUsed to agree warmly with an arrangement.
“Thursday at four? Excellent.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
excellent is a degree of quality.
Also accepted in games: outstanding, superb
Latin excellens is the present participle of excellere, to rise above or surpass — ex-, out, plus a root meaning to raise. Something excellent literally stands out above the rest, which is a clearer picture than the modern word usually carries.
Proto-Indo-European
*kelH-
Latin
excellēns — elevated, exalted
Old French
excellent
Middle English
excellent
English, today
excellent
Built from
From Middle English excellent, from Old French excellent, from Latin excellēns (“elevated, exalted”), present participle of excellō (“elevate, exult”), equivalent to excel + ent.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA