thoroughgoing

American  

[thur-oh-goh-ing, -uh-goh-, thuhr-] / ˈθɜr oʊˌgoʊ ɪŋ, -əˌgoʊ-, ˈθʌr- /

adjective

1. doing things thoroughly.

2. carried out to the full extent; thorough.

3. complete; unqualified.

   a thoroughgoing knave.

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thoroughgoing British  

/ ˈθʌrəˌɡəʊɪŋ /

adjective

1. extremely thorough

2. (usually prenominal) absolute; complete

   thoroughgoing incompetence

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Other Word Forms

• thoroughgoingly adverb
• thoroughgoingness noun

Etymology

Origin of thoroughgoing

First recorded in 1810–20; thorough + going

Explanation

Anything thoroughgoing is comprehensive — it pays extremely careful attention to details. Your thoroughgoing research most likely involved endless hours of sifting through multiple sources. A thoroughgoing paint job will be neatly edged and precisely done, and a thoroughgoing government reform will involve a huge, involved overhaul of the system. This adjective has an old-fashioned sound these days, when thorough usually works just as well. Both words come from the Old English þuruh, "from end to end and side to side."

Example Sentences

“The Bloody Crossroads,” published in 1987, isn’t the kind of book you expect a journalist to write: a collection of perceptive, thoroughgoing literary essays on important writers from Henry Adams to Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

In 1976, Biden, then 33, was a thoroughgoing Jimmy Carter Democrat.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2023

On the one hand, he was a thoroughgoing modernist.

From Washington Post • Jan. 14, 2023

But a more thoroughgoing marriage of old and new comes in a new project from Kristin Dickson-Okuda, one of several creators commissioned just for this show.

From New York Times • Jan. 4, 2023

Before he spoke, he was terribly nervous—but how he described those nerves gives an insight into how thoroughgoing was his theory of oratory: Personally, I am always very nervous when I begin to speak.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith