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Glite Dictionary
to strive for excellence

to strive for excellence

2 3.5
To try very hard to reach the highest standards
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : luchar por la excelencia
  • Teacher candidates need to know the power of striving for excellence.
  • encourage children to strive for excellence

Examples

  • By being involved in professional teachers' organizations and regularly attending professional development in-services, most Cooper Road Elementary teachers strive for excellence.

    Academic text (2013)

  • For example, gifted persons are encouraged to strive for excellence in the most challenging careers, and creativity is often expected of them in their work.

    Academic text (1991)

  • When you hired me, you wanted me to strive for excellence... and that is exactly what I am doing.

    Drumline (2002)

  • We choose to tune out all the noise and strive for excellence in everything we do.

  • I strive for excellence in all my various trades.

    Almost Heroes (1998)

  • "We strive for excellence in the profession by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge.

    Academic text (2015)

  • She knows the standards against which she will be judged and has learned to reflect on her work and strive for excellence.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Standard 6: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Part of what made this country great was young people learning, growing, and striving for excellence—they (we) would compete and do our best knowing that diligence, hard work, and imagination would serve us well... just like it did our fathers and mothers.

    Blog text (8)

  • In our team meetings, we often discuss how to strive for excellence in our projects.

Synonyms

to aim for
vsto strive for excellence
79 2.8

To try to reach a goal

is broader focusing effort on reaching top standards rather than only a goal
to try our best
vsto strive for excellence
14 2.1

To make as much effort as you can to reach a goal

targets the same effort but specifically toward top standards and quality
to do one's utmost
vsto strive for excellence
5 3.2

To try as hard as possible

focuses effort on reaching the highest standards and quality
to aim high
vsto strive for excellence
5 3.9

Try to reach very difficult goals

is similar but emphasizes meeting the very highest quality level

Antonyms

to give up
∞ 1.2

To stop trying to do something or accept defeat

How Hard

to strive for excellence
2 3.5
to strive
156 3.7
to aim for
79 2.8
to work on
∞ 2.6

Surface Forms

strive for excellence infinitive

Morphology

strive + for + excellence

The meaning 'to make great efforts to achieve the highest possible standards' is directly derivable from combining 'strive' (to exert oneself) with the prepositional purpose marker 'for' and 'excellence' (superior quality); the composition follows a straightforward verb + prepositional phrase pattern. This is a transparent, cross-linguistically common construction that a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand.

Etymology

Strive for excellence comes from the image of someone reaching up toward the highest point: strive means to try very hard and excellence means the very best quality. So the phrase means 'to make great efforts to reach the best'.