- present participle of exhilarate.
exhilarating
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Explanation
Something exhilarating is so exciting it makes you a little giddy. "Snowboarding that black-diamond trail was exhilarating!" Zipping through the snow is certainly exhilarating, but ski bunnies and snowboarders might not choose this fancy adjective first. They might just yell, "Woohoo!" It's always been a fun-loving word; its Latin roots mean "gladden, cheer." A ride on a glass elevator with a cute vampire could be exhilarating, and so could a surprise party, or a ride on an old roller coaster. It can be so refreshing, you can't exhale after something exhilarating happens.
Vocabulary lists containing exhilarating
The Giver
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 2
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The Joy Luck Club
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Exhilarating, high octane, entertaining - this was the modern brand of rugby which made the Six Nations so captivating in an 80-minute nutshell.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
Exhilarating as the approach is in vindicating Nora, this modern take on “A Doll’s House” does hit a wall with Krogstad and, crucially, Torvald.
From New York Times • Mar. 9, 2023
Exhilarating and unnerving, it’s the standout of a group dominated by sequels.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 10, 2020
Exhilarating but gruelling, the experience taught her a vital lesson about knowing your limits.
From The Guardian • Mar. 31, 2019
Exhilarating, too, to men of their temperament, to have cut the Gordian knot of the difficulty by risking themselves on this unprecedented quest for peace and food.
From The Magnetic North by Robins, Elizabeth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
