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I am looking for a very specific word to be used in place of {word} in this sentence:

He {word} himself well.

An alternate sentence that would have a similar meaning:

He proved capable in the task.

The most I can remember of the word I'm looking for is that is has the prefix re-.

Edit: Redeemed is close to what I'm looking for but I don't want the negative connotation around the word.

To give my specific use case example, I was given some new temporary responsibilities at work and I'm writing my quarterly goals. I'm looking to make one of these goals that I handled these new responsibilities well.

Edit: So much for a good memory, the specific word does not use the prefix re-.

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  • Thanks for the edit choster, was not sure which formatting to use for the sentences. I am unsure however about the - after re, perhaps I'm using the wrong word when I say prefix. To my memory the word is not hyphenated.
    – JustinM
    Jul 16, 2014 at 20:50
  • "Represented", maybe?
    – Liesmith
    Jul 16, 2014 at 20:56
  • Could you be thinking of "He redeemed himself"? I know that "redeem" and "proved" are not synonymous but "he redeemed himself" is a very idiomatic phrase (without the "well" at the end).
    – Kristina Lopez
    Jul 16, 2014 at 20:57
  • Redeemed was one of the first words that comes to mind, but I feel that it has a bit of a negative connotation. Generally you would have done something wrong and then redeemed that wrong.
    – JustinM
    Jul 16, 2014 at 20:58
  • After its miserable performance in the Olympic Games the German nation redeemed itself by winning the World Cup.
    – WS2
    Jul 16, 2014 at 21:10

4 Answers 4

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Perhaps the word acquitted. According to Collins English Dictionary, it can mean

to perform (one's part); conduct (oneself)

A fairly standard, if somewhat formal statement is He acquitted himself well.

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  • Ok so my specification for the prefix was completely off base, this is the exact word I was looking for.
    – JustinM
    Jul 16, 2014 at 21:27
  • @phaeze After ruining my mind with the prefix #_#
    – Mohamed Hamza
    Jul 16, 2014 at 21:40
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You may be thinking of:

He represented himself well.

It's not a terribly common way to express that idea, but I have heard it.

The more common alternative I've heard is:

He acquitted himself well.

But that one doesn't start with 're'.

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2
  • This is much closer than redeemed and I may use it if I can't find the exact word I'm thinking of.
    – JustinM
    Jul 16, 2014 at 21:07
  • Oops. I see @bib posted the 'correct' answer while I was editing mine. Oh, well. I'll just leave it, but you should up-vote his since it was first.
    – adj7388
    Jul 16, 2014 at 21:29
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The most I can remember of the word I'm looking for is that is has the prefix re-.

Could what you are looking for be He redeemed himself? It means to make up for poor past performance or to remove a prior bad impression.

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3
  • Care to say why you downvoted?
    – Drew
    Jul 16, 2014 at 22:48
  • Because the request is for a word that means something like "performed well". To redeem oneself is to perform well only in a situation where one had previously performed badly but there's no mention of that requirement isn't mentioned in the question.
    – David Richerby
    Jul 16, 2014 at 23:52
  • @DavidRicherby Fair enough. (The request also said "The word I'm looking for ... has the prefix re-", but the accepted answer was acquitted...)
    – Drew
    Jul 17, 2014 at 1:46
-1

Maybe a good answer to your question is "legitimized." Maybe "demonstrated?"

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1
  • Welcome to ELU.SE. Please take a moment to find upvoted answers to see the type of answer this site is looking for. We also provide help on answering questions. In particular, a referenced statement rather than conjecture ["Maybe"] tends to go down well. (Note: the system will automatically downvote some answers which it flags as capable of improvement in this regard.)
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Jul 16, 2014 at 23:06

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