/excellency/

/excellency/ 

Noun.

-) Pronunciation and accent: ɛksələnsɪ. 

-) Plural: excellencies. 

-) Etymology: from Latin excellentia, which is the noun of excellent, participle of excellere (= to excel). It is identical to French excellence, Spanish excelencia and Italian eccellenza.

-) It is dated from the beginning of 1400.

1. The state or quality of being excellent; excellence; the fact of excelling or being superior in something.

-) Synonyms for excellency: superiority, betterness, superiorship, supremacy, excellingness, eminence.

-) Antonyms for excellency: inferiority, commonplaceness, mediocrity.

Fountains, famous for the excellency of their water.  

Lady Montague… Letters… 1822

[…] it must be considered, that, if the excellency of a painter consisted only in this kind of imitation, painting must lose its rank, and be no longer considered as a liberal art.

Samuel Johnson… The Adventurer and Idler 1825

[Writing about a variety of fish] as an article of food or luxury, we cannot agree with its celebrator, Ausonius, in its excellency over our other fresh water fishes.

William Jardine… History of Fishes 1835

[Sea Perch fish] was celebrated as well for the excellency of its flavour, as for the stratagems it used when encircled by nets, or fastened by the hook.

William Jardine… History of Fishes 1835

While the brig was getting ready, he frequently urged upon me the excellency of the opportunity now offered for indulging my desire of travel.

Edgar Poe 1838

-) It occurred in such phrases as by excellency, for excellency, with excellency, (now obsolete):  which seem to be the translation from a Latin idiotism with the adverbial meaning of “excellingly”, “in an excelling manner” and “so named, so denominated as being excelling or the best”. In French par excellence; in Italian, par eccellenza; and, in Spanish, por excelencia.

2. (Obsolete acceptation) something or someone that excels.

3. That in which a person or thing excels; excellence; an excellent (very good) quality; that which makes (a person or thing) to be very good or excellent.

I made an entrance, in my last paper, on the important subject of visiting, and distinguished the different kinds of visits now in vogue amongst us, with their excellencies and defects.

Nathan Drake… The Gleaner 1811

It would be too much, however, even for Addison, to have so many excellencies without some defects.

William Banks… The English Master 1823

Whatever were the moral excellencies of queen Sophia…

Agnes Strickland… Queens of England 1840

4. a. Obsolete acceptation: an excellent person. b. As a title of honor or a servile mode of address to certain persons.

-) Words derived from the verb EXCEL: excellence, excellent, excellently, excelling (noun), excelling (adj.), excellingly, excellingness.