- present participle of exhaust.
exhausting
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of exhausting
Explanation
Something that's exhausting tires or fatigues you. An exhausting hike up the side of a mountain leaves you gasping for breath and so tired you need to sit down and rest. Some things, like a rigorous workout or a difficult type of manual labor, are physically exhausting. Others are mentally exhausting, like a long argument with a friend or a tricky calculus exam. The adjective exhausting is rooted in the Latin exhaurire, "draw off, take away, use up, or empty," which perfectly describes how you feel after an exhausting experience.
Vocabulary lists containing exhausting
Difficult
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Spelling Practice 1, Unit 8
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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.
The overacting is exhausting because it’s not only Iñárritu’s creative choice, but rather the methods employed by the play-within-a-movie’s director.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
Another not-insignificant consideration: Selling a home is a time-consuming, exhausting, stressful and laborious process.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
But it may be more exhausting than thrilling to learn in the closing, apocalypse-ratcheting minutes that Na has more of his story planned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Lafayette was 67 when he began his triumphal tour, an age when travel even in the most convenient circumstances can be exhausting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The hours were like mountains we had to climb, enormous and exhausting.
From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez
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.
