Definition of "surpassing" []

• Exceptional; exceeding: monuments of surpassing splendor. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "That he can write lines surpassing -- aye! "she cried," _surpassing_ Polonius's advice to his son, and leave them uncopied on an ale-house table to go off with the first loose woman who comes by, and be carried home, too drunk to walk, the next morning, roaring out hymns about eternal salvation."
• "He had not succeeded in surpassing a decent mediocrity."
• ""Useful and ornamental needlework, knitting and netting are capable of being made, not only sources of personal gratification, but of high moral benefit, and the means of developing in surpassing loveliness and grace, some of the highest and noblest feelings of the soul.""