Outstanding

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌaʊtˈstæn.dɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Remarkably excellent or superior in quality or achievement ; remaining unpaid or unsettled, typically referring to debts or tasks
2. Distinguished by exceptional merit or importance ; still unresolved or incomplete and waiting to be addressed
3. Standing out for high quality or distinction ; continuing to exist without being paid, completed, or dealt with

Etymology: The most striking thing about "outstanding" is how literal its original sense was: it described something that stood out, physically, from its surroundings. Built from "out" and "standing," the word has its roots in the idea of something standing apart from or beyond a place, a sense that remains visible in the older meaning of an object projecting from a surface. The unpaid sense, a debt still "standing" and not yet settled, grew from that same image. A bill that has not been discharged is still hanging out there, not yet resolved, so the word came to describe accounts and obligations left open. The shift from the literal to the figurative runs through the same two words, with the sense of standing out gradually gaining its modern meaning of excellence.

Synonyms: exceptional, remarkable

Antonyms: ordinary