This verbal word confusion exalt versus exult differs between thinking or speaking and showing or feeling.
Exalt is to think or speak highly of someone, to glorify or ennoble them.
Exult feels or shows delight. It revels. It rejoices. It leaps with joy.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.
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| Exalt | Exult |
|---|---|
Green Red Yellow by Nevit Dilman is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — These colors exalt each other. |
Jumping for Joy is in the public domain, via Wallpaper Flare. — They exult at their success. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Verb, intransitive & transitive
Third person present verb: exalts |
Verb, intransitive
Third person present verb: exults |
| Verb, intransitive: To induce an excessively intensified sense of well-being, power, or importance Verb, transitive:
To stimulate, as the imagination To increase the intensity of (a color, etc.) [Obsolete] To make someone ecstatically happy, as with pride or joy [Obsolete] To lift up physically |
Feel or show triumphant elation or jubilation
To show or feel a lively or triumphant joy
[Obsolete] To leap, especially for joy |
| Examples: | |
| Verb, intransitive: He was exalted beyond his hopes. Elena is still exalting. Those sentiments exalt above all merely personal considerations. Verb, transitive: He was exalted to the position of president. This naturally exalts the peasant above his brethren in the same rank of society. Romanticism liberated the imagination and exalted the emotions. The lyrics of Shakespeare exalted the audience. “Washington has a serious tendency to exalt semantics over common sense” (Dickey). These complementary colors exalt each other. “Not exactly the kind of jobs a new president wants to exalt as the solution of the future” (Stone). They exalted their queen. |
Exulting in her escape, Lisa closed the door behind her.
They exulted over their victory. He exulted when he won the lottery. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. They root for the hero, exult at his successes, are anxious for his triumph, and suffer at his reversals. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: exalted, self-exalting, unexalting Adverb: exaltedly Noun: exaltation, exaltedness, exalter Verb, transitive: superexalt |
Adjective: exultant, exulting, self-exulting Adverb: exultantly, exultingly Noun: exultancy, exultation, exulting |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English, from the Latin exaltare, from ex- (out, upward) + altus (high). | Late 16th century, from the Latin exsultare, frequentative of exsilire meaning leap up, from ex- (out, upward) + salire (to leap). |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
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Resources for Exalt versus Exult
Apple Dictionary.com
Dickey, Christopher. “Egypt’s Declaration of Independence: Not so different from ours.” Daily Beast. 4 July 2013. Web. 11 Mar 2022. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/egypts-declaration-of-independence-not-so-different-from-ours?source=dictionary>.
Lexico.com: exult
Merriam-Webster: exalt
Stone, Daniel. “Starting on Day One, New Ad Lists Everything Romney Would Accomplish.” Daily Beast. 18 MAY 2012. Web. 11 Mar 2022. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/starting-on-day-one-new-ad-lists-everything-romney-would-accomplish?source=dictionary>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Crowd by Markus Spiske was duplicated in Photoshop and is in the public domain, via StockSnap. The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ is an oil painting by Garcia Fernandes and is José Luiz‘s own photography courtesy of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. It is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. Most of its background was removed.
