- present participle of exhilarate.
exhilarating
Britishadjective
Other Word 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.
With Esa-Pekka Salonen as this year’s music director, the festival saw an exhilarating return to its essence.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 2026
With Esa-Pekka Salonen as this year’s music director, the festival saw an exhilarating return to its essence.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 2026
“Alice and Steve” also required her to do a few stunts in a series of intense scenes toward the end of the series, which Walker found exhilarating and worrisome.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
Then, they played some exhilarating cricket, the best of the Bazball era.
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
Working at the dam was dangerous, but Shin also found it exhilarating.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
