exhilarating
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
- exhilaratingly adverb
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.
It’s an exhilarating time, almost like you’re starring in a movie.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026
Draper lost an exhilarating 26-shot rally, was broken back when serving for the match and won one less point than Djokovic - but still came out on top.
From BBC • Mar. 12, 2026
But it is also an exhilarating work of art, in which the more conceptual elements of Le Corbusier’s architecture—light, space and landscape—are interpreted in new and uncanny ways.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
While making “Aprende Peque” episodes is creatively exhilarating, Muñoz said it’s the fan reaction and interaction that mean the most to her.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
For a moment, her breath stalled, and then she laughed, a dizzying, exhilarating laugh, because her life had become a charmed film in which people found each other again.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
