exceptional 🔊 adj /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/ · [ɪ-]
Etymology From exception + -al.
1 Forming an exception; not ordinary; uncommon; rare.
What an exceptional meal! 2 Education Of a student Requiring special schooling for reasons of intellectual giftedness or physical or mental disability.
The origins of the conditions and disorders that exceptional learners have are not always well understood. 3 Better than the average; superior due to exception or rarity.
The quality of the beer was exceptional. 4 Geometry , Mathematics , Sciences
an exceptional curve; an exceptional divisor Derived terms dual-exceptional , eggceptional , exceptional case-marking , exceptionalism , exceptionalist , exceptionality , exceptionally , exceptionalness , exceptional space , exceptional zero , nonexceptional , twice-exceptional , unexceptional
exceptional 🔊 noun Etymology From exception + -al.
1 An exception, or something having an exceptional value
Above and beyond all these exceptionals, by reason of divergencies from the norms of mental and of physical status, there are quite a number of moral defectives.1909, Pediatrics, volume 21, page 276: