exceptional

1. 1.

   far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree

   “a night of exceeding darkness”

   “an exceptional memory”

   “olympian efforts to save the city from bankruptcy”

   “the young Mozart's prodigious talents”

   Synonymsexceedingolympianprodigioussurpassing

   Similarextraordinary
2. 2.

   surpassing what is common or usual or expected

   “he paid especial attention to her”

   “exceptional kindness”

   “a matter of particular and unusual importance”

   “a special occasion”

   “a special reason to confide in her”

   “what's so special about the year 2000?”

   Synonymsespecialparticularspecial

   Similaruncommon
3. 3.

   deviating widely from a norm of physical or mental ability; used especially of children below normal in intelligence

   “special educational provisions for exceptional children”

   Similarabnormal

   psychology

Questions about exceptional

What does exceptional mean?

exceptional means "far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in exceptional?

exceptional has 4 syllables: ex-cep-tio-nal. The stress falls on "cep". In IPA it is /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/.

What is another word for exceptional?

Close synonyms include exceeding, olympian, prodigious, surpassing, especial. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is exceptional a common word?

exceptional is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.