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Is there a single word for "going the extra mile"?

If possible carrying the connotation, if not the denotation, of being awed and possibly humbled by the lengths to which someone went.

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I went with another phrase... "surpassed all expectations". – user14070 Jan 26 '12 at 2:55

4 Answers

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Going strictly for a single word, I come up with outperform and overachieve, neither of which are really 100% fits; or perhaps shined:

Wow, you/he/she really shined tonight

as in, did (whatever it was) like a star. (Although, "shone" as the past-tense form may be more idiomatic in that context.)

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+1 for "overachieve"... funny how that wasn't what I was looking for in the answer, but how I actually felt in the case I was trying to apply it to. – user14070 Jan 26 '12 at 2:52
+1 for good words. Strongly suggest shone as it is the past tense of the intransitive verb. Shined is the past tense of the transitive verb. In context, it suggests that “tonight” is getting a shine. – MετάEd Jan 26 '12 at 16:10
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Here is one possibility: striving.

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+1 as striving also fits in my context. – user14070 Jan 26 '12 at 2:54
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Definitely not one word, but one number: 110%.

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I just don't like the logical fallacy involved. – user14070 Jan 26 '12 at 15:35
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The extra mile, too, could be nonsensical, if you take it literally. Would you go the extra mile to get from point A to point B? Then you're at point C. :) – JeffSahol Jan 26 '12 at 15:48
up vote 0 down vote

Also not a single word, but a common idiomatic expression is...

You really outdid yourself there!

...but this tends to be used either ironically (a gaffe-prone person did/said something particularly gauche) or in contexts where the performance being praised was in any case intended to be entertaining or impressive (but turned out to be exceptionally so).

In more "workaday" contexts - for example, I call a mobile mechanic because my car battery is flat, and he checks my oil/water/tyres while boost-charging it, I'd probably say

You're a star!

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