excellence

excellence
    n 1: the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high
         degree
    2: an outstanding feature; something in which something or
       someone excels; "a center of manufacturing excellence"; "the
       use of herbs is one of the excellencies of French cuisine"
       [syn: {excellence}, {excellency}]
    

Excellence \Ex"cel*lence\, n. [F. excellence, L. excellentia.]
   1. The quality of being excellent; state of possessing good
      qualities in an eminent degree; exalted merit; superiority
      in virtue.
      [1913 Webster]

            Consider first that great
            Or bright infers not excellence.      --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. An excellent or valuable quality; that by which any one
      excels or is eminent; a virtue.
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            With every excellence refined.        --Beattie.
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   3. A title of honor or respect; -- more common in the form
      {excellency}.
      [1913 Webster]

            I do greet your excellence
            With letters of commission from the king. --Shak.

   Syn: Superiority; pre["e]minence; perfection; worth;
        goodness; purity; greatness.
        [1913 Webster]
    

114 Moby Thesaurus words for "excellence":
      accomplishment, acquired taste, advantageousness, agreeableness,
      appreciation of excellence, arete, ascendancy, auspiciousness,
      beneficialness, benevolence, benignity, choiceness,
      civilized taste, civilizedness, class, cogency, consequence,
      conspicuousness, cultivated taste, cultivation, culture,
      daintiness, deanship, delicacy, desert, discrimination,
      distinction, elegance, elevation, eminence, exaltation, excellency,
      expedience, fairness, fastidiousness, favor, favorableness,
      fineness, finesse, first-rateness, good taste, goodliness,
      goodness, grace, gracefulness, gracility, graciosity, graciousness,
      grandeur, greatness, healthiness, helpfulness, high mightiness,
      importance, incomparability, inimitability, kindness, lead,
      loftiness, majority, mark, merit, niceness, nicety, nobility,
      notability, note, one-upmanship, outstandingness, perfection,
      pleasantness, polish, precedence, predominance, predomination,
      preeminence, preponderance, prepotence, prepotency, prerogative,
      prestige, priority, privilege, profitableness, prominence, quality,
      refinement, rewardingness, right-of-way, seniority, significance,
      skill, skillfulness, sophistication, soundness, sublimity,
      subtlety, success, superbness, supereminence, superiority,
      supremacy, taste, tastefulness, transcendence, transcendency,
      usefulness, validity, value, virtue, virtuosity, virtuousness,
      wholeness, worth