Exhaustive

//ɪɡˈzɔː.stɪv// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Including every possible element: fully comprehensive.

    "We made an exhaustive list."

  2. 2
    Causing exhaustion; very tiring. archaic

    "Wolsey saw in what imminent peril the revenues of the Church were from the exhaustive squandering and grasping covetousness of the Court."

Adjective
  1. 1
    performed comprehensively and completely; not superficial or partial wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
thoroughgoingpunctiliousabsoluteacross-the-boardaggregateall

Example

More examples

"The police undertook exhaustive searches but failed to find the body."

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin exhaustīvus, also exhaust + -ive by surface analysis.

Related phrases

collectively exhaustive

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.