# An adjective that means "more than expected"



## tphuong122002

Hi all!

I am looking for an adjective that means "_more than expected_".  One possible context is when you want to talk about the progress made by a person.  You wanted he could be *A*, but he managed to be _*A plus*_.  It means that *he made ........ progress*.  What adjective should I use here before "progress"?  Thanks.


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## Saleh Al-Qammaari

We can say

considrable, substantial, dramatic, significant, remarkable, etc.

You are welcome


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## tphuong122002

crystal clear said:


> We can say
> 
> considrable, substantial, dramatic, significant, remarkable, etc.
> 
> You are welcome


 
Thanks, crystal clear.  I know these adjectives very well.  But what I am looking for is different.  It should means "more than expected", "more than desired", "more than one could hope",.....


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## Saleh Al-Qammaari

tphuong122002 said:


> Thanks, crystal clear. I know these adjectives very well. But what I am looking for is different. It should means "more than expected", "more than desired", "more than one could hope",.....


 
Oops, What about *amazing?*

My Longman Dic. says,

very good, especially in an unexpected way 

I do not know whether it works or not. It's just an attempt to offset the previous one. I am waiting for better suggestions.


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## tphuong122002

crystal clear said:


> Oops, What about *amazing?*
> 
> My Longman Dic. says,
> 
> very good, especially in an unexpected way
> 
> I do not know whether it works or not. It's just an attempt to offset the previous one. I am waiting for better suggestions.


 
Amazing is the word I know and not what I want. Hope that others can help?  Could *our mods* help?


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## Lis48

I would say "he made exceptional progress" myself. Unexpected would be slightly offensive.


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## liliput

Exceptional, surprisingly good, astonishing, astounding, fantastic, phenomenal, remarkable, outstanding, prodigious.


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## tphuong122002

Thank you very much, my friends, for your help!


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## Packard

"You did an excellent job on this; indeed, you exceeded our expectations.  Well done!"

"You have excelled in this.  Indeed, you far exceeded what was reasonable to expect.  Nice job."

I am a member of a photography website and when I critique a photo and it is well done, I often remark on the "impact" of that photo.

So, I might say:

"An excellent portrait; well-lit, nicely posed and with a well-chosen background.  _The parents should be thrilled with this shot_."

The italics indicate the "impact" of the photo.

We don't know the exact context, but this would work for school work:

"An excellent job.  Put this in a binder and keep it for your resume.  Well done."


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## JamesM

Although this word is not as common as many of the suggestions, I believe "surpassing" would work here and would communicate that the progress exceeded expectations.


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## mally pense

There have been lots of suggestions here, but to my mind the only one that really meets your requirements as stated at the outset is "exceptional", and even then there are alternative interpretations which mean something other than "more than expected", so the use of that term is a little ambiguous without further explanation. However, if we can assume that you would be happy with a phrase rather than a single word, then I would suggest that the following meets your criteria perfectly:


"he made *better than expected* progress"
This is not only unambiguous, it also means exactly what you stated, and is commonly used and understood, at least here in the UK.


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## EmilyD

How about:  *Superlative!

*Nomi


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## mally pense

> How about: *Superlative!*


The problem with this, and many of the previous suggestions, is that someone doing better than expected somehow makes them superhuman, as if such a thing really is superlative, substantial, dramatic, significant, remarkable, amazing, astonishing, astounding, fantastic, phenomenal, remarkable, outstanding or prodigious, etc. It isn't!

Assuming that targets are set realistically (and on a continuous scale_*_), then half the people involved will do worse than expected, the other half will do better than expected. That really isn't anything so outstanding as all these suggestions imply! It's just *better than expected*, no more and no less, and certainly not something that puts them in line for a knighthood or a Nobel prize! 

_* By continuous scale, I mean that the target is set (say) as a percentage rather than just Grade A, Grade B, Grade C etc. Obviously the fewer grades there are, the more people will fall within their target grade, but it still should not be considered superhuman for someone to achieve a better than expected grade._

To summarise, there's really no need for such exaggerated superlatives simply because one is looking for a comparative adjective well within the normal range of human endeavor.


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## AngelEyes

mally pense said:


> To summarise, there's really no need for such exaggerated superlatives simply because one is looking for a comparative adjective well within the normal range of human endeavor.


 
I don't know, mally pense. If I were getting treatment and the outlook was rather gloomy, and then the treatment cured me or even made me feel better than I could ever have hoped for, I'd be searching around for all the superlatives I could find.

I like liliput's and Lis48's suggestion of _exceptional. _

I also like the word _unprecendented,_ because it implies some surprise and then need to make my point about it. 

Still I like _exceptional _the best.

Also, no matter what word you choose, I think it adds depth without drama to add this to every choice:

You've made __________ progress. Much better than we would have ever expected.

*AngelEyes*


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## mally pense

Strictly speaking though, it isn't exceptional for someone to get an A Plus rather than an A, and it's not exactly unprecedented either - surely it happens all the time?

Yes, if you want a gushing, proud parent to summarise their offspring's acheivement, you could use any of the overblown adjectives that have been suggested, but for a rational appraisal by a school teacher preparing a report for example, I'd expect something more in line with the actual degree of comparative achievement.


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## AngelEyes

Sure...I can see the point you're trying to make, mally pense. 

The circumstance is everything.

Still, I always expect enthusiasm with a statement that's encouraging and filled with unexpected good outcomes. The superlative describes the raised eyebrows and shared pleasure of success.

Maybe I am easily excited by accomplishments. 

Seriously, a wise teacher knows the value of a well-expressed superlative.

Perception is reality. 

Thanks, mally pense, for your kind answer.

*AngelEyes*


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## mally pense

Beside which, tphuong122002 has already made it clear he's not looking for "Amazing". Taking your example, you're suggesting an outlook which was rather gloomy, so shall we say a "C" or a "D"? Yes, to go from that to an "A Plus" would perhaps merit all the superlatives you could find (and there's certainly plenty to choose from here), but not to go from a "A" to an "A Plus".

EDIT: Posted before I'd read your reply above.


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## mally pense

> The circumstance is everything.


 
Indeed, and we're both speculating. I do take your point, and I do accept that my own may be a little dry, but both sides were worth expressing I think.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

I think I would say "_He made *surprising* progress._"  There is also nothing wrong with "_He made *unexpected* progress_."


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## liliput

My favourites are prodigious, outstanding and exceptional.


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## mally pense

Let's try turning this round:

Instead of commenting on what amazing etc progress this person has made, try to imagine for a moment that we don't YET know anything about what progress has been made. Let's say we then see the statement:

_"He made prodigious progress"_

Faced with the task of interpreting what this actually means, we may reach the conclusion, based on the WordReference definition of prodigious, that he made progress so great as to elicit awe, of momentous significance, far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree.

What we _won't_ be able to interpret from it is that the progress he made was in fact the rather more ordinary achievement of getting a A+ rather than an A, the result perhaps of being a little more self-motivated and putting in just a little more effort than previously.

I'm not going to try this exercise with the other superlatives, but if this forum has any meaning at all, then surely the actual meaning of words and the requirements of the context for which they are intended should have some bearing. Going back to the original post, faced with the problem of finding something to replace "he made *more than expected* progress" which is clearly wrong, my proposed solution "he made *better than expected* progress" is somehow deemed unsatisfactory or inferior in favour of sheer invention and hyperbolae.

The mind boggles.


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## mally pense

Now then Mrs B, You'll be wanting to know how Johnny has done...

Yes please

Well, he's made prodigious progress

Prodigious?

Yes, outstanding, exceptional

I see! Well that's a bit of a shock, but how exactly do you mean?

Well, looking back at his records, we had him down to get an A, whereas in fact he's got an A+

Oh... errm... is that all you meant....? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased obviously, but you had me excited for a moment, I thought perhaps we had another little Mozart on our hands

Unfortunately it doesn't quite stretch that far... let's just say he's done better than expected

FIN


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## liliput

I agree with mally pense, the difference between an A and an A+ is not really significant enough to warrant words that imply some sort of awesome surprise. To progress from A to A+ is not really a great deal of progress, to progress from D to A+ would be prodigious. 
However, my problem with "better than expected" is that, although it's accurate, I feel it's something you would hear about a student that you were expecting to do badly. Much better to say;
"he did *even* better than expected" 
or 
"he made *even* more progress than we expected" 
because here we have the implication that we were expecting him to do well.
Other alternatives:
"His progress exceeded/surpassed our expectations"
"He excelled/outdid himself"


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## mally pense

I'm happy with that.


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## gahnett

tphuong122002 said:


> Hi all!
> 
> I am looking for an adjective that means "_more than expected_".  One possible context is when you want to talk about the progress made by a person.  You wanted he could be *A*, but he managed to be _*A plus*_.  It means that *he made ........ progress*.  What adjective should I use here before "progress"?  Thanks.




I love this question because when you ask for "more than expected", you are really asking for "better than perfect".  Just as if you expect that a 100% on a test would garner an A, an A+ would be 105%, better than perfect.  

All these suggested words are just superlatives.  The problem was that you should have had higher expectations.


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## wandle

Since there is no single adjective to express the idea mentioned in post 1, the options are to use:

either an adverbial phrase (_'He did *better than expected*'_)
or an adjectival phrase: (_'He made *better than expected* progress'_).

You could also say, '_He made an unexpected degree of progress_'.
On the other hand, '_He made unexpected progress_' could mean that no real progress had been expected.


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## Thomas Tompion

tphuong122002 said:


> Hi all!
> 
> I am looking for an adjective that means "_more than expected_".  One possible context is when you want to talk about the progress made by a person.  You wanted he could be *A*, but he managed to be _*A plus*_.  It means that *he made ........ progress*.  What adjective should I use here before "progress"?  Thanks.


As our expectations are conditioned by what is usual, all those adjectives indicating _outstanding_, are also indicating_ more than expected_.  

So, far from there being no adjective in the language with this meaning, most of the adjectives which people have suggested, like o_utstanding _and_ prodigious_, mean, among other things often,_ more than expected._

All this reminds me of the foreign headmaster years ago who send us for interview a student with the surprising recommendation: _Unexpectedly, he has done much better than expected_.


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## wandle

There is no adjective with the specific meaning 'more than expected'.
Adjectives such as 'outstanding', 'prodigious' etc. may indicate that expectation has been surpassed, but need not do so. There is no contradiction in saying, for example, 'His achievement is outstanding, but, after all, that is what we expect from him'.

The nearest approach, as far as I know, is 'supererogatory', but that means 'more than required', 'beyond the call of duty'.


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## Thomas Tompion

It's a matter of establishing a norm.

I don't think it's very difficult to see that without a norm (created by experience, and thereby creating expectations) not many of these words like _outstanding _or_ exceptional _have meaning.

The moment one acknowledges the norm, one can see that we do have many words meaning 'more than expected'.  It would be very odd if we didn't, when one considers how often we need to express the idea.  I think this consideration ought to have alerted someone denying that we have such words to the danger of putting forward this view.  Of course in the absence of a norm, we have no point of comparison and cannot use such words.

The contradiction in Wandle's sentence is immediately evident when we make the norm explicit and say _'His_ _achievement is oustanding for him, but, after all, that is what we expect'_ - the point is that it isn't outstanding for him if it's what we expect - that fact alone should have rung alarm bells.

What Wandle's sentence is trying to get away with saying is _'His achievement is outstanding_ (by normal standards),_ but that is what we expect from him _- ie. by his standards he did nothing outstanding.'

Of course if you shift the norm in the middle of the sentence, you can use these words in many kinds of ways, but you can't get away from the fact that they are comparative words referring to a norm, and that norm is what we have come to expect as usual.


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## Packard

"Off the charts" is an idiom that means "exceeding expectations by a considerable margin".  I think that it would work in this context. The syntax would normally be changed. "His progress was off the charts."  Or, "He made progress that was off the charts."


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## wandle

As mentioned earlier, it is possible for words such as 'outstanding' to indicate that expectation has been surpassed, but they do not necessarily mean that. The frequency of the expression 'better than expected' in ordinary usage is a clear indication that English lacks a single word with that specific sense.

A quick Google search on the word 'outstanding' combined with the phrase "what we expect" produces more cases where people identify the outstanding with their expectation than where they do not. 

Here are a few of the examples where the outstanding was expected:

http://www.serendibleisure.com/club-hotel-dolphin/index.php?Itemid=138
_It is so typical of what we expect from the Serandib Group hotels. Overall, everything was outstanding and service was excellent. A delightful return.
_
http://qm2012.bnl.gov/files/pdf/QM12-2ndNotice.pdf
_We also thank the Program Committee for the selection of talks for what we expect to be an outstanding program._

http://careers.etihadairways.com/ehire/english/cabincrew.aspx
_WHAT WE EXPECT FROM YOU You will be self-motivated, passionate about people and committed to delivering outstanding customer service.
_


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## Thomas Tompion

I'm surprised one needs to go on about this.

Look at the etymology of the words:

Outstanding - what is this standing out from?  The norm.
Exceptional - from what? The norm.
Prodigious - what is a prodigy? 1 a person, especially a young one, with exceptional abilities. 2 an amazing or unusual thing. (The WR dictionary definitions) What is going to amaze? Something unusual.    What is something unusual?  Something which is not usual.

What do we normally expect? The norm, the usual.  We expect to start day with breakfast, because that is the norm, that is what usually happens.

If something is usual, normal, we expect it to happen: if something is unusual, extraordinary, prodigious, exceptional, it is unexpected.  These words all contain the idea of exceeding expectations.

There are other words for falling below expectations, eg. egregious - ex-grego - out of the flock - not in the normal range - not what we expect.

Psychologists are of the view, I understand, that if we are deprived of patterns, things which we learn to perceive as normal, usual, we don't know what to expect, and we go crazy.  I find that very easy to understand.


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## chajadan

I would go either with "surprising progress" or "unexpected progress".

--charlie


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## wandle

Words such as 'outstanding', 'amazing', 'prodigious', do indeed mean 'exceptional' and 'extraordinary', but then even the extraordinary can be expected.

George Best was a footballer whose talent was often described as 'prodigious'. Whenever he received the ball on the field, there was - as I can confirm from experience - a thrill of anticipation among the spectators, simply because he was expected to produce something prodigious: and he often did.


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## Thomas Tompion

wandle said:


> Words such as 'outstanding', 'amazing', 'prodigious', do indeed mean 'exceptional' and 'extraordinary', but then even the extraordinary can be expected.
> 
> George Best was a footballer whose talent was often described as 'prodigious'. Whenever he received the ball on the field, there was - as I can confirm from experience - a thrill of anticipation among the spectators, simply because he was expected to produce something prodigious: and he often did.


The fact that one can expect something outstanding isn't to deny that the outstanding is something beyond what one normally expects.  It's odd to argue that it is.

You are trying to apply two norms again.  I've translated one of those sentences for you.  This one means _People expected George Best to do outstanding things, things which went beyond what one would normally expect.  _Had there been no norm, Best would not have had a power to surprise because people would not have had expectations.

Actually this argument is important, because the principle lies at the heart of much aesthetic pleasure.


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## wandle

This thread draws the interesting and useful distinction between implicature and entailment.
If we apply the question-formula used there to the present issue, then we can propose:

(a) _Best's performance was prodigious._
(b) _Best's performance was more than expected._

and we can ask: 'Does (a) entail (b)?'
and: 'Can (b) be an implicature of (a)?'

My position is:

 first, that the answers here are 'No' and 'Yes' respectively: in other words, that 'prodigious' does not _entail_ the meaning 'more than expected': though it can very well in context _convey_ the meaning 'more than expected'; 

secondly, that for the original question





tphuong122002 said:


> I am looking for an adjective that means "_more than expected_".


the expected answer is a single word which does entail the meaning 'more than expected'; 

and, thirdly, that English does not contain such a word. (If it did, we would not find ourselves saying 'more than expected', 'better than expected' etc. as often as we do.)


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## Thomas Tompion

Hello Wandle,

So you won't admit that words like 'outstanding' and 'exceptional' are based on norms?  You seem to wish to deprive this part of the language of meaning.

Teachers are sometimes encouraged to apply two separate standards to a pupil's performance: how they've done relative to the other children in the class, and how they've done relative to their (the child's) own standards.  Educationalists have fancy names for these things, but I'm not interested in fancy names when they are used to disguise meaning.

A child may be bottom of the class, but doing very well.  How can that be?  He may be poor relative to what one would expect of a child of his age - bottom of his class, but doing excellently well relative to what his previous performance has led one to expect.  Such things are common when, for instance, a foreign child comes to a new school: their ignorance of the language may put them well behind other children of their age, but their rapid progress may show how excellent they really are.

When we use a word like outstanding, we need to be clear which norm we are applying.  The child may not be outstanding relative to the other children, relative to what we expect from a child of their age, but outstanding relative to what their previous performance had led us to expect from them individually.  

These words cannot be used without an idea of a norm - which is why some disciplines call them normative words - and to deny this is to deprive them of meaning.  To apply two norms to one of them at the same time isn't a way of presenting an argument.


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## Packard

wandle said:


> ...
> and, thirdly, that English ...Mike did unexpectedly well on his math exam."


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## wandle

Packard said:


> Does not "unexpectedly" meet that need?" "Mike did unexpectedly well on his math exam."


Well, 'unexpectedly' is an adverb meaning 'not as expected'. 
The questioner wanted an adjective meaning 'more than expected', as in 'made more-than-expected progress'.

The discussion of norms does not seem to address the original question either.
The original poster asked for an adjective _defined as_ meaning 'more than expected'. He made clear that 'amazing' was not the answer.





tphuong122002 said:


> Amazing is the word I know and not what I want.  Hope that others can help?


 'Outstanding', 'prodigious' etc. are no more suitable than 'amazing': they all _can_ express that expectation has been surpassed, but are not _defined as_ meaning that.

The word 'supererogatory' ('above what is required') illustrates the sort of adjective that the poster apparently wanted.
We can coin a similar term from 'expectation': the non-existent _*superexpectatory_, and assign it the meaning 'above what is expected'.

If a student, expected to reach an A grade, actually achieves A plus, that is more than expected and with our new coinage we could say that he has made _*superexpectatory_ progress (see post 1).
That, surely, is the sort of answer that *tphuong122002* was looking for: unfortunately, no such word exists.
We can also see that such progress, though it may be admirable, would not normally be termed 'prodigious'.

We could also say: _'George Best's performance was prodigious but not *superexpectatory'_. 
Since the English language has a gap where _*superexpectatory_ should be, that sentence would normally be expressed as: 
_'George Best's performance was prodigious but no more than expected'_.


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## Thomas Tompion

Packard said:


> Does not "unexpectedly" meet that need?"
> 
> "Mike did unexpectedly well on his math exam."


It would be fine, Packard.

I wouldn't regard it as pleonastic.

It isn't quite clear what 'the need' is now in this thread.  Are we answering the OP, which dates back to July 2007 and the sensible discussion following it, or the issues raised in the revival of the thread yesterday?


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## chajadan

wandle said:


> Well, 'unexpectedly' is an adverb meaning 'not as expected'.
> The questioner wanted an adjective meaning 'more than expected', as in 'made more-than-expected progress'.



Progress is an assertion of improvement, so unexpected progress is still progress nonetheless. Progress is only ambiguous as a question, such as, how was his progress? If he made unexpected progress, he improved in an unexpected way.

--charlie


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## wandle

chajadan said:


> Progress is an assertion of improvement, so unexpected progress is still progress nonetheless. Progress is only ambiguous as a question, such as, how was his progress? If he made unexpected progress, he improved in an unexpected way.


'Unexpected' is an adjective, yes, but it still does not mean 'more than expected': it means 'not expected'.
Bearing in mind the thread topic:





> Thread: An adjective that means "more than expected"


if you expect someone to answer 'Yes', but instead they say 'No', then the answer is unexpected: but it is not _more than expected_.


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## Packard

wandle said:


> 'Unexpected' is an adjective, yes, but it still does not mean 'more than expected': it means 'not expected'.
> Bearing in mind the thread topic:
> if you expect someone to answer 'Yes', but instead they say 'No', then the answer is unexpected: but it is not _more than expected_.


If you expect someone to make modest improvement in their studies, but instead the made great improvement, then that improvement was unexpected.


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## radosna

My proposal:  Modify a fitting adjective with the adverb "exceedingly".

Examples:

"He made exceedingly remarkable progress." 

How do you like that?

I do think that many have already offered some excellent options, though.


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## wandle

Packard said:


> If you expect someone to make modest improvement in their studies, but instead the made great improvement, then that improvement was unexpected.


Of course it would be. It is true that something more than expected is also unexpected, but the converse does not apply: something unexpected is not necessarily more than expected (see Yes/No example above).

If you were to offer 'unexpected' as an answer to the original question:


tphuong122002 said:


> I am looking for an adjective that means "_more than expected_".


 the reply would probably be, 'Sorry, 'unexpected' is not the same as 'more than expected'.

The questioner would naturally feel that his question was not being addressed, but simply sidestepped.

In order to address the question, we need to point out that there is no adjective meaning 'more than expected' (as has already been stated) and then offer a suitable phrase to express the meaning instead. Several suitable phrases have already been put forward.


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## Thomas Tompion

radosna said:


> My proposal:  Modify a fitting adjective with the adverb "exceedingly".
> 
> Examples:
> 
> "He made exceedingly remarkable progress."
> 
> How do you like that?
> 
> I do think that many have already offered some excellent options, though.


Some people prefer to let simple normative words do their function without this kind of intensive, Radnosna.  One difficulty there, though, is that *Good work and progress* is almost a parody of a school report.

It can be important often to indicate the norm to which you are referring.  Is this pupil's progress impressive relative to his progress in the past, or to the progress normal for someone of his age?

Failure to be  precise about the norm one is applying can lead to misunderstanding.


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## radosna

Thomas Tompion said:


> Some people prefer to let simple normative words do their function without this kind of intensive, Radnosna. One difficulty there, though, is that *Good work and progress* is almost a parody of a school report.



Yes, Thomas Tompion, I agree that this kind of intensive word usage is not preferred by many (including myself in most cases).  Polish have a saying that is something like, "buttering buttery butter" to describe this sort of gushing.  But my reply was not in response to taste and preferences.  This was getting back to the original OP's request to find something that might suit what he (or she) was after.  It seems to me that that we have gone off on a tangent and while it is related to the OP, it has taken on a goal and purpose of its own.  

By the way, tphoung, where have you gone??? Have you found a suitable answer or not?


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## chajadan

wandle said:


> 'Unexpected' is an adjective, yes, but it still does not mean 'more than expected': it means 'not expected'.
> Bearing in mind the thread topic:
> if you expect someone to answer 'Yes', but instead they say 'No', then the answer is unexpected: but it is not _more than expected_.



I disagree wandle. The OP primarily wanted to describe a progress than was more than expected, so:

He made unexpected progress.

As far as I'm concerned that meets the full requirements. It's shows that progress was made, it shows that the progress made was somehow a surprise, and that the surprise was that it exceeded expectations.

The wording of the post is being taken too literally by you. I do agree that "unexpected" is not a general use adjective meaning "more than expected", but the OP doesn't seem to wanted a word that applies to all possible scenarios, or else they can simply say "His progress exceeded expectations" or keep in mind the phrase "more than exptected". I would never assume to be able to find a one word adjective for every discription.

--charlie


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## wandle

chajadan said:


> He made unexpected progress.


This, however, could also be used for a case where no real progress had been expected at all. 


tphuong122002 said:


> I am looking for an adjective that means "_more than expected_".  One possible context is when you want to talk about the progress made by a person.  You wanted he could be *A*, but he managed to be _*A plus*_.  It means that *he made ........ progress*.  What adjective should I use here before "progress"?  Thanks.


Is it not clear from this that the poster *primarily* wanted an adjective that means 'more than expected'?

He then adds _'*One possible* context is when you want to talk about the progress made by a person.'_
That is for him only one possibility: he evidently wants an adjective that can work equally in other contexts. 

As pointed out in post 26, and repeated since, there is no one adjective in English that means 'more than expected'.
 (Post 39 considers what such a term might look like.)
Unfortunately, the only way to express that specific meaning is with a suitable phrase (see examples in post 26).


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## tphuong122002

Dear friends,

After a long time &shy;not checking this forum, today I am very surprised and so impressed to see that you are still helping me to answer a question I posted 5 years ago!  Please rest assured that I have already been given numerous good suggestions to pick for my question.  This is another evidence that this is the best and most helpful forum for English users like me.  You are all my great teachers!  Please accept my sincere thanks and appreciation!

Best regards, 

Tphuong


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## Thomas Tompion

There are many adjectives in English which perform the function of indicating performance above or below a norm.  They are normative adjectives, and their use in school reports is proverbial - good, bad, disappointing, encouraging, etc.

A teacher who wished to give such an indication [of progress below the norm] would say something like 'unexpectedly poor progress', though 'poor progress' would, of course, indicate progress below that expected.  'Unexpected progress' is an expression used by people to indicate progress above the norm.


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## Imber Ranae

Thomas Tompion said:
			
		

> A teacher who wished to give such an indication [of progress below the norm] would say something like 'unexpectedly poor progress', though 'poor progress' would, of course, indicate progress below that expected. 'Unexpected progress' is an expression used by people to indicate progress above the norm.


I agree that there's no ambiguity with 'unexpected progress', but there are other contexts in which 'unexpected' clearly does not mean 'more than expected'. _The flooding of the basement was unexpected_ does not mean the same thing as _The flooding of the basement was more [extensive] than expected_. I think that is Wandle's only point.


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## gahnett

gahnett said:


> I love this question because when you ask for "more than expected", you are really asking for "better than perfect".  Just as if you expect that a 100% on a test would garner an A, an A+ would be 105%, better than perfect.
> 
> All these suggested words are just superlatives.  The problem was that you should have had higher expectations.





This is why I love this problem...

By perfect, what I meant to say was that perfect means "the most you can expect".  

So, it clears both issues, the problem of expectation and the problem of superlative.  

As for whether there's a single word that achieves this...isn't that interesting that the concept requires more than one word, ie, content is not sufficient to describe the problem.   It requires interpretation, which requires the subject.


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## Thomas Tompion

Imber Ranae said:


> I agree that there's no ambiguity with 'unexpected progress', but there are other contexts in which 'unexpected' clearly does not mean 'more than expected'. _The flooding of the basement was unexpected_ does not mean the same thing as _The flooding of the basement was more [extensive] than expected_. I think that is Wandle's only point.


Thank you very much for saying this, Imber, because if it's true, then Chajadan and I have both misunderstood him.  With that statement as it stands I agree entirely.


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## K S Venkataraman

tphuong122002 said:


> Hi all!
> 
> I am looking for an adjective that means "_more than expected_".  One possible context is when you want to talk about the progress made by a person.  You wanted he could be *A*, but he managed to be _*A plus*_.  It means that *he made ........ progress*.  What adjective should I use here before "progress"?  Thanks.



I think the word you are looking for is 'supererogatory', which means going beyond what is required / expected.


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## Packard

K S Venkataraman said:


> I think the word you are looking for is 'supererogatory', which means going beyond what is required / expected.


A great word, if anyone knew what it meant (I had to look it up).

Because it is obscure I'm not certain it meets the test of "communicating".


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## Wraique

I ended up here because I couldn't remember the word 'inordinate'. I also found a lot of other cool thingies. Cheers.


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