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.
It’s a devilishly strategic move by director Taccone: Mr. Guilfoyle provides a rush of exhilarating wind through a movie that may have started to feel a little sticky, especially around the head wounds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Brook's cameo was exhilarating, a reason to be distracted from Stokes' knock in Durham.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
I find it exhilarating and hilarious to give him grief, and if I had to guess, he feels the same way towards me.
From Los Angeles Times ● 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
It had been an exhilarating trip but a fearful one.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
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.
