exhaustive

adjective

ex·​haus·​tive ig-ˈzȯ-stiv 

: including all possibilities : thorough

conducted an exhaustive search

exhaustively adverb

exhaustiveness noun

exhaustivity

ig-ˌzȯ-ˈsti-və-tē 

noun

Synonyms of exhaustive

• thorough
• extensive
• comprehensive
• complete

Examples of exhaustive in a Sentence

The list was long but not exhaustive.

after an exhaustive search of our house, we still hadn't found the cat

Recent Examples on the Web

Those tests are created by specific labs approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the tests are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which requires exhaustive reliability studies. —Yuki Noguchi, NPR, 20 Feb. 2026

For two days, the mission team put the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft through an exhaustive series of pre-launch procedures. —Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 20 Feb. 2026

An exhaustive investigation has highlighted how the crash happened after years of warnings and near collisions. —Emma Hurt, AJC.com, 19 Feb. 2026

Awkward giggles and ruthless stares punctuate silence until the blind matriarch (played by Tracy Letts) asks his daughter to describe Martha’s (Elle Fanning) appearance to him in exhaustive detail. —David Opie, IndieWire, 15 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1789, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

exhaustive

adjective

ex·​haus·​tive ig-ˈzȯ-stiv 

: trying all possibilities : thorough

an exhaustive search

exhaustively adverb

exhaustiveness noun