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. 

There’s nothing like a tasty treat! When that treat is tasty not because it is sweet, but because it has a rich flavor such as that associated with meat or roasted vegetables, it may be called savory. Savory means “pleasant or agreeable in taste or smell,” but has come to represent a particular taste profile in the culinary world. Of the five basic taste sensations, savory best aligns with umami, a word adopted from Japanese in the early 1960’s that describes a meaty or mushroom-like flavor featured in Asian cuisine. Savory can also refer to a pleasing or attractive person or thing, like a savory architecture book full of vivid photographs. Its antonym, unsavory, gives off a malodor, describing someone or something that is not wholesome, as in, “Her job as an undercover investigator involved interacting with some unsavory characters.”