exemplary
ex·em·pla·ry/ɪɡˈzɛmpləɹi/adjective
exemplary is spelled E-X-E-M-P-L-A-R-Y, 4 syllables: ex·em·pla·ry. The wrong spelling people search most is examplary: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 56 of all searches for the word. Exemplary is an adjective meaning “Deserving honour, respect and admiration”.
How many letters and syllables are in exemplary?
| Letters | 9: E-X-E-M-P-L-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ex·em·pla·ry |
| In writing | 2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, examplary, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell exemplary?
Exemplary is spelled E-X-E-M-P-L-A-R-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 56 of the searches for exemplary in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is exemplary?
Exemplary appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce exemplary?
- US /ɪɡˈzɛmpləɹi/
- US /ɛɡ-/
Exemplary has 4 syllables, split ex·em·pla·ry in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-exemplary.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of exemplary
- more exemplary comparative
- most exemplary superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does exemplary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Deserving honour, respect and admiration.
- 2
Of such high quality that it should serve as an example to be imitated; ideal, perfect.
Her behaviour was always exemplary.
- 3
Serving as a warning; monitory.
exemplary justice, exemplary punishment, exemplary damages
- 4
Providing an example or illustration.
noun
- 1
obsoleteAn example, or typical instance.
- 2
obsoleteA copy of a book or a piece of writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Exemplary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | vorbildlich , beispielhaft |
| Spanish | ejemplar, ejemplarizante, ejemplarizador, ejemplificante, ejemplificador |
| French | exemplaire |
| Portuguese | exemplar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does exemplary come from?
From Middle English exemplarie, from Latin exemplāris (“exemplary; a copy, facsimile”), from exemplum (“an example; a sample; a copy or transcript”). By surface analysis, example + -ary. Doublet of exemplar. First use appears before 1450.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).