in excelsis

UK/ˌɪn ɪkˈsɛlsɪs/UK/ˌɪn ɛksˈt͡ʃɛlsɪs/

adjective

To the highest degree; archetypal, quintessential.

OriginEcclesiastical Latin in excelsīs →
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Meanings

adjectivein excelsis (not comparable)
  1. not comparablepostpositionalTo the highest degree; archetypal, quintessential.

    It can only be AC/DC: black black black! with the first single from their first new album in eight years, Black Ice. It's blues-metal heaviosity in exelcis^([sic]).

    2008 September 14, Craig McLean, “Rock review: AC/DC, Rock 'n' Roll Train”, in The Observer
    2 more examples

    […] it was impossible to believe that one mind directed the singer and another the pianist, and if the voice was an example of art in excelsis, not less exalted was the perfection of the player.

    1916, E. F. Benson, Michael

    Then it’s early R.E.M. in excelsis: seething momentum, cascading guitar arpeggios, power-pop punch in the arrangements, and words that have the intermittent uncanny lucidity of sleep talk (“These rivers of suggestion are driving me away”).

    2018 October 25, James Parker, “R.E.M., in Retrospect”, in The Atlantic

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
to the backboneto the boneto the brimto the coreto the fullto the gillsto the gunnelsto the hiltto the maxto the ninesto the nth degreeto the tonsilsto the top of one's bentup to eleven

Origin

  1. Ecclesiastical Latinin excelsīs“on high, in the highest”
  2. Englishin excelsis

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin in excelsīs (“on high, in the highest”), as in the Gloria.

More words from Ecclesiastical Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

in excelsis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20excelsis

MLA

“in excelsis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20excelsis. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in excelsis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20excelsis.

Source: in excelsis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.