thrilling

adjective

thrill·​ing ˈthri-liŋ 

: causing a feeling of great excitement or happiness

a thrilling discovery

a thrilling performance

… flashes into the end zone to give the Rams the winning touchdown in the most thrilling Super Bowl finish ever.

—Rick Reilly

thrillingly

ˈthri-liŋ-lē 

adverb

Who, in fact, are the good guys and who are the bad guys in the dramas that unfold here so thrillingly?

—Marie Winn

… this is a powerful and thrillingly strange movie …

—Terrence Rafferty

Synonyms

• breathtaking
• charged
• electric
• electrifying
• exciting
• exhilarating
• exhilarative
• galvanic
• galvanizing
• hair-raising
• heart-stopping
• inspiring
• intoxicating
• kicky
• mind-bending
• mind-blowing
• mind-boggling
• rip-roaring
• rousing
• stimulating
• stirring

Examples of thrilling in a Sentence

a thrilling adventure movie

Recent Examples on the Web

The Dallas Mavericks finally got out of their own way and eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder in a thrilling 117-116 comeback victory in the Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals at American Airlines Center on Saturday night. —Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 May 2024

Over the course of two films, Emma Stone and writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos have established a thrilling creative partnership that has produced some of their best work on both sides. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 18 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1768, in the meaning defined above