Surpassing

How to spell surpassing

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce surpassing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does surpassing mean?

1. adjectiveGreatly exceeding others in quality or degree; exceptional or outstanding.
2. verbGoing beyond or exceeding something in amount, quality, or achievement.

Surpassing in a sentence

• adjective

  The violinist played with surpassing skill that left the audience silent.

• verb

  The company is steadily surpassing its sales targets this quarter.

• adjective

  The old cathedral was famous for its surpassing beauty.

• verb

  She kept surpassing every record her older teammates had set.

Where does surpassing come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows out of the verb 'surpass', which English borrowed from the French surpasser in the early 1500s. That French verb joined the prefix sur-, meaning 'over' or 'beyond' and descended from the Latin super, with the verb passer, meaning 'to pass' or 'to go by'. The literal sense was therefore 'to pass over' or 'to go beyond', and from there it came to mean exceeding someone or something in quality, degree, or amount. The present participle 'surpassing' soon took on a life of its own as an adjective describing excellence that goes beyond all rivals, a usage common in older formal writing about beauty, skill, or wisdom. The same sur- prefix sits inside everyday relatives such as 'surplus', 'surface', and 'surname', each carrying that idea of something laid over or beyond, which is a useful reminder that the word begins with sur- and not the more tempting 'super-'.

How the word is built

• sur- (over, beyond, from Latin super)
• pass (to go past, from French passer)
• -ing (participle/adjective suffix)