exceed in

exceed (someone or something) in (something)

To surpass or outshine something in some action or trait. Well, Greg got the promotion because his work really exceeded yours in quality.
See also: exceed
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

exceed someone or something in something

to surpass someone or something in something. Tom exceeds Walter in athletic ability. Ralph exceeded the Rock of Gibraltar in hardheadedness.
See also: exceed
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • exceed (someone or something) in (something)
  • exceed by
  • exceed
  • exceed (someone or something) by (something)
  • do (one) one better
  • there was/is something about (someone or something)
  • there's something about (someone or something)
  • there's something about somebody/something
  • inherit (something) from (someone)
  • inherit from
References in classic literature
But upon investigation we find, that not only are the whales of the present day superior in magnitude to those whose fossil remains are found in the Tertiary system (embracing a distinct geological period prior to man), but of the whales found in that Tertiary system, those belonging to its latter formations exceed in size those of its earlier ones.
Because I cannot understand how it is, that while the Egyptian mummies that were buried thousands of years before even Pliny was born, do not measure so much in their coffins as a modern Kentuckian in his socks; and while the cattle and other animals sculptured on the oldest Egyptian and Nineveh tablets, by the relative proportions in which they are drawn, just as plainly prove that the high-bred, stall-fed, prize cattle of Smithfield, not only equal, but far exceed in magnitude the fattest of Pharaoh's fat kine; in the face of all this, I will not admit that of all animals the whale alone should have degenerated.
Moby Dick LXVIII CXXXIV