Eximious
adj.capable, joyfulliterary
What it means
Exceptionally excellent or distinguished.
Reach for it when using deliberately archaic praise in a historical or playful literary voice
The catalogue calls the silverwork eximious in a passage modeled on Tudor prose.
Choose between these
5- everyday
when strong approval should be immediately clear
not when Excellent lacks the antique voice that is the main reason to choose eximious.
- warm
when confident accessible praise suits conversation
not when First-rate is informal and loses the historical texture of eximious.
- professional
when achievement has earned lasting recognition
not when Distinguished suggests reputation or bearing, not simply exceptional quality.
- formal
when something ranks at the highest level of quality
not when Superlative can sound like review jargon and implies comparison with a field.
- literary
when older concise praise of selected quality is intended
not when Choice sounds like slang or a noun to many modern readers.
Said against
3- inferior
- mediocre
- undistinguished
It naturally appears in
3- eximious skill
The chronicler praised the mason's eximious skill in cutting the vault.
- eximious work
The preface describes the illuminated pages as eximious work.
- truly eximious
Only a deliberately antique narrator would call the banquet truly eximious.
Where this comes from
Merriam-Webster labels this sense archaic; ordinary modern praise should use a clearer alternative.
- merriam-webster, archaic adjective sense: choice or excellent opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.