Exalt

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɪɡˈzɒlt/

Definitions

1. To praise or honor someone or something greatly ; to promote to a higher rank or position ; to lift up or raise to a higher physical or spiritual level
2. To express strong admiration or reverence for a person or idea ; to elevate someone's status or authority ; to raise something above its usual position or condition, often symbolically
3. To glorify or admire with enthusiasm ; to advance in rank or office ; to heighten or uplift in a literal or figurative sense

Etymology: Latin "exaltare" meant "to raise up," built from "ex-" ("out, up") and "altus" ("high"), the same root that gives us "altitude." The Latin verb carried a physical sense of lifting something higher, and that concrete picture stayed attached to the word as it passed through Old French "exalter" into Middle English as "exalten." What makes the word more than a simple lift is how quickly its sense moved from height to honour. Once English adopted it, "exalt" came to mean raising someone's rank, status or reputation, and then praising them, which is the sense that dominates today. The word still carries both meanings side by side: you can exalt a person to a throne or exalt a god in song, and the same verb serves both.

Synonyms: elevate, lift, promote

Antonyms: degrade, humiliate