The adjective healthy gets a lot of use this time of year as so many of us resolve to eat healthy foods and embrace a healthy lifestyle in the new year. Robust is a synonym for healthy, but it is not used to describe food or behaviors that are conducive to good health. Robust emphasizes strength and vigor and is used to describe people that are in particularly fine fettle. It’s also used to describe markets or economies that are thriving or are especially resilient, and discussions or debates that are especially productive or spirited and engaging. You may even hear of a robust password or a robust method, each being strong and effective in all of most situations.

The adjective opposite is used to describe things that are opposed or are radically different from each other. Antithetical describes things that are diametrically opposed. The latter is a more pointed and precise adjective, and it is commonly used to highlight essential incompatibilities between ideas, behaviors, or values. For instance, if words or deeds are or are perceived as antithetical to democratic principles, then they go (or are perceived to go) against those principles starkly and irreconcilably.

To surpass someone or something is to go beyond it in amount, extent, or degree. A new product can surpass expectations if it does more than previously thought. Surpass can also mean to excel or to be superior to, as in, a student who surpasses his classmates in vocabulary knowledge or in sports trivia. If surpassing others in some way makes them look less outstanding or important by comparison, then the verb eclipse covers it. You may know the verb eclipse more for its use in astronomy to denote the blocking out of the light of the moon or sun, but its figurative meaning is relevant closer to home. For example, a basketball player can eclipse her rivals in free throw accuracy, meaning she has overshadowed them with her superior abilities.