exhaustive

[ ig-zaws-tiv ]

/ ɪgˈzɔs tɪv /

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See synonyms for: exhaustive / exhaustively on Thesaurus.com

adjective

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.

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Origin of exhaustive

First recorded in 1780–90; exhaust + -ive

OTHER WORDS FROM exhaustive

ex·haus·tive·ly, adverbex·haus·tive·ness, nounnon·ex·haus·tive, adjectivenon·ex·haus·tive·ly, adverb

non·ex·haus·tive·ness, nounun·ex·haus·tive, adjectiveun·ex·haus·tive·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use exhaustive in a sentence

The US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations is often portrayed in the media as some kind of exhaustive, authoritative list of terrorist groups around the world.
Was the US Capitol attack “domestic terrorism”?|Jennifer Williams|January 7, 2021|Vox
Here, you’ll find an exhaustive list of your competitors in organic and paid search sorted by the number of keywords they have in common with the analyzed website.
Analyzing competition with SE Ranking tools|Sponsored Content: SE Ranking|November 19, 2020|Search Engine Land
In 2018, EPA staff scientists published an exhaustive, 1,881-page summary of the science.
The EPA Refuses to Reduce Pollutants Linked to Coronavirus Deaths|by Lisa Song and Lylla Younes|October 21, 2020|ProPublica
Don’t try to be comprehensive or exhaustive—just focus on presenting your strongest argument.
How to pitch and write an opinion piece for MIT Technology Review|Amy Nordrum|October 15, 2020|MIT Technology Review

If you’re new to the world of canning, you can go straight to the source—the US Department of Agriculture’s exhaustive list of canning instructions.
How to can your favorite foods without dying|Rachel Feltman|October 13, 2020|Popular-Science
Spanning more than 150 years, the exhibit exhaustively distinguishes designer pieces from licensed copies, adaptations, and fakes.
The Big Business of Fashion Counterfeits|Lizzie Crocker|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She avoids an exhaustively descriptive definition because she opposes condemning all novels based on the flaws of some novels.
The Birth of the Novel|Nick Romeo|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That allure lives in her exhaustively detailed diaries, published in seven volumes and covering five decades.
‘Mirages’: Anaïs Nin’s Intimate, Unexpurgated Diaries|Lizzie Crocker|October 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But of course - as I stressed in my post above - those questions of high policy have been exhaustively discussed.
UPDATED: David's Bookclub: Iron Curtain|David Frum|November 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
There are many deeply disturbing aspects to this case, which Morris exhaustively documents.
Errol Morris’s “A Wilderness of Error” Revisits Jeffrey MacDonald Case|Raymond Bonner|August 30, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The bodily positions being exhaustively enumerated need not be correlated together.
Assimilative Memory|Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)
He hoped to treat the subject exhaustively in his forthcoming treatise on Ecclesiastical Prosody.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, April 28, 1920|Various
Hence the project, although eagerly and exhaustively discussed, was prudently abandoned.
Famous Adventures And Prison Escapes of the Civil War|Various
I have recorded the facts, and do not propose to discuss exhaustively the theoretical aspect of the matter.
The Sexual Life of the Child|Albert Moll
He quaffed deeply and exhaustively that cup of joy in the quiescence and passivity of complete happiness.
The conquest of Rome|Matilde Serao

British Dictionary definitions for exhaustive

exhaustive

/ (ɪɡˈzɔːstɪv) /

adjective

comprehensive in scope; thoroughan exhaustive survey

tending to exhaust

Derived forms of exhaustive

exhaustively, adverbexhaustiveness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

exhaustive

Origin of exhaustive

OTHER WORDS FROM exhaustive

Words related to exhaustive

How to use exhaustive in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for exhaustive

Derived forms of exhaustive