exhaustive
Americanadjective
-
exhausting a subject, topic, etc.; comprehensive; thorough.
He published an exhaustive study of Greek vases.
-
tending to exhaust or drain, as resources or strength.
a protracted, exhaustive siege of illness.
adjective
-
comprehensive in scope; thorough
an exhaustive survey
-
tending to exhaust
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of exhaustive
Explanation
Exhaustive means performed comprehensively and completely. When you recruit a new employee (or spouse), you undertake an exhaustive search for the best talent. When you are exhaustive about something, you are testing all possibilities or considering all elements. If you want to become an attorney you will need an exhaustive knowledge of the leather bound books in the law library. When you exhaust something, you use it up entirely, so something exhaustive is complete. After your exhaustive tour of Rome, you're exhausted.
Vocabulary lists containing exhaustive
The Martian
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From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
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Native Speaker
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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.
Exhaustive but not exhausting, the play unspools hundreds upon hundreds of biographical details, hurtling through history at a pace that elevates the material beyond rote recitation of fact.
From Seattle Times • May 7, 2024
Exhaustive archival searches failed to turn up photos of Frederick Marie, elected in 1868; William Keys, 1870; and Alfred Kennedy, 1878, DeSantis said.
From Washington Times • Oct. 24, 2020
Exhaustive notes on transportation networks, power grids, and factories hint at the Soviets’ obsession with infrastructure.
From National Geographic • Oct. 13, 2017
"Exhaustive" attempts to reproduce such transmission in primates have failed, he says, leading many to doubt whether such propagation is possible.
From Science Magazine • Sep. 9, 2015
The last account of him is, that he had gone to the Isle of Man, where he endeavoured to get up a railway on the Exhaustive Principle, but without effect.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 427 Volume 17, New Series, March 6, 1852 by Chambers, Robert
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.
