exhilarating
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more exhilarating
form: most exhilarating
Etymology: By surface analysis, exhilarate + -ing.
Senses: examples: text: Mrs. Palmer added, "that this news, though it could scarcely be called exhilarating, had had such an effect on her elderly friends, that they had determined to set out to Bath, and, when rested, proceed thence to Exeter, in order to be nearer the place where the vessel was expected, and to be a support to Lord Meersbrook, in case of the worst."
ref: 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LVII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 109–110:
text: The switchback road to Diabaig - pronounced 'Jer-vague' - passes through some of the most exhilarating scenery in Scotland. […] With a final swoop, the road plummets down into Diabaig, where cottages are dotted across the slopes of a rocky semi-circle.
ref: 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 151:
text: What most delights us today in Candide is not the 'conte philosophique', nor its satire, nor the gradual emergence of a morality and vision of the world: instead it is its rhythm. With rapidity and lightness, a succession of mishaps, punishments and massacres races over the page, leaps from chapter to chapter, and ramifies and multiplies without evoking in the reader's emotions anything other than a feeling of an exhilarating and primitive vitality.
ref: 1991, Italo Calvino, “Candide, or Concerning Narrative Rapidity”, in Martin McLaughlin, transl., Why Read the Classics?, New York, N.Y.: Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, published 2014, →ISBN, page 103:
text: Writing a "Treehouse of Horror" segment has to be both exhilarating and daunting. It's exhilarating because it affords writers all the freedom in the world.
ref: 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “The Simpsons (Classic): ‘Treehouse Of Horror III’”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 17 Oct 2016:
text: "Like many other large resorts, the town operated electric tramways, with open-topped cars. The journey down the steep incline to the harbour must have been exhilarating at times, testing the brakes on the vehicles to the limit."
ref: 2021 September 8, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Electric tramways at the heart of our seaside story”, in RAIL, number 939, page 59:
synonyms: word: exhilarant
word: cheering
word: gladdening
word: stimulating
word: enlivening
word: absorbing
word: alacrifying
word: awesome
word: banging
word: bracing
word: compelling
word: distracting
word: dramatic
word: edge-of-the-seat
word: engrossing
word: electric
word: electrifying
word: enlivening
word: enthralling
word: exciteful
word: exciting
word: exhilarating
word: exhilarative
word: explosive
word: fascinating
word: hair-curling
word: hair-raising
word: heady
word: heart-pounding
word: heartstopping
word: heartswelling
word: intoxicating
word: gripping
word: impressive
word: inspiring
word: invigorating
word: jiggy
word: kicky
word: mind-blowing
word: moving
word: off the chain
word: pulse-pounding
word: pulsating
word: rip-roaring
word: riveting
word: rousing
word: sensational
word: shocking
word: sizzling
word: slam-bang
word: spine-tingling
word: startling
word: stimulating
word: stirring
word: stonking
word: thrilling
word: thrilly
word: warm
word: air-headed
word: blissed out
word: blissful
word: cock-a-hoop
word: delighted
word: ecstatic
word: elated
word: euphoric
word: exultant
word: filled with happiness
word: giddy
word: gladsome
word: gleeful
word: greatly pleased
word: joyful
word: joyous
word: lighthearted
word: orgasmic
word: on cloud nine
word: over the moon
word: overjoyed
word: thrilled
word: walking on air
glosses: Refreshingly thrilling.
Derived terms: exhilaratingly
unexhilarating