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.
Now, after an inquest and months of exhaustive hearings and long deliberations by a jury, there is a verdict – but much is still unknown about what happened to Noah.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
His evaluation isn’t exhaustive, since he couldn’t access some syllabi, and some didn’t include all readings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
The UN mission has documented civilian casualties since 2009 in one of the most exhaustive studies on victims of the 2001-2021 war.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
You may already be grieving the possibility of loss while your brother is still here and while you are actively helping him through his exhaustive cancer treatment.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does provide a wide range of commonly used instruments from Western and world cultures.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
