From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishexcellentex‧cel‧lent /ˈeksələnt/ ●●● S1 W2 adjective 1 GOOD/EXCELLENTextremely good or of very high quality an excellent suggestion His car is in excellent condition. Second-hand computers can be excellent value.► see thesaurus at good2 spoken said when you approve of something SYN great ‘I’ll bring the books over tonight.’ ‘Excellent.’ —excellently adverbTHESAURUSexcellent extremely good or of very high qualityHis English was excellent.an excellent piece of workgreat spoken extremely good. Great is less formal than excellent, and is the usual word to use in everyday spoken English‘Did you have a good holiday?’ ‘It was great!’He did a great job as captain.fantastic/terrific/wonderful spoken extremely good. These words sound even more excited than great or excellent‘I passed my exam.’ ‘That’s fantastic!’ Last year Jess had a terrific season, averaging eleven points a game. The trip will be a wonderful opportunity for the children.amazing/incredible extremely good in a surprising and exciting wayan amazing view of TokyoThe trip was an incredible experience.superb extremely good – used especially when you are very impressed by somethingThe acting was superb.There is a superb range of cheeses. first-class of a high quality and much better than most othersThe service is first-class.a first-class restaurant outstanding extremely good – used when saying how well someone does somethingHe’s an outstanding player.It was an outstanding performance by a talented young actor.exceptional unusually good – used when saying that someone or something is much better than any othersShe has an exceptional talent.He writes good essays, but I wouldn’t say that his work is particularly exceptional.Merits are given as an honour for exceptional achievement.out of this world [not before noun] spoken informal used when saying that something is so good that it is better than anything you could have imaginedThe food is out of this world.awesome especially American English very goodIt was an awesome concert.GrammarExcellent is not used with ‘very’. You say: It’s an excellent idea. | It’s a really excellent idea. ✗Don’t say: It’s a very excellent idea.
Examples from the Corpus
excellent• But it is cheaper than the other machines and the games are excellent.• They told me my English was excellent.• These are excellent avenues to explore.• Most obviously, water is an excellent building material: eminently flexible, but not very compressible.• He is to be congratulated on his excellent choice of guardian angels.• He specialized in finding stolen luxury cars, developing excellent contacts with both police and criminals.• They complimented her on her excellent English.• He specialised in lead figures of which excellent examples are found at Powis Castle in Powys, ornamenting the spectacular hanging terraces.• We were given some excellent financial advice by Mr Samuel.• Nancy's in excellent health.• That sounds like an excellent idea to me.• That was an excellent meal.• Many studies reported excellent results with the drug.• The bank provides an excellent service for its customers.• Andrew had always been an excellent student.• She's enthusiastic and hardworking and has the potential to be an excellent teacher.• The marathon relay, aided by excellent weather, was completed three hours inside the team's self-imposed limit of 12 days. 