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 are the findings of an exhaustive new survey published in Nature Cities, in which researchers used satellite radar to track 465 urban areas of more than a million people from 2014 to 2023. — Sanidhya Sharma, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2026

The Jets conducted an exhaustive search for their coach and general manager in 2025, and Johnson could entrust Mougey with those decisions this time. — Antwan Staley, New York Daily News, 28 Oct. 2026

There is no exhaustive review of AI maturity in the industry, but surveys suggest that many companies hit a wall with their pilot projects, leaving them at stage two. — Roy Stephen Canivel, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2026

Each photograph’s staging is meticulous, and there is an almost exhaustive attempt to interweave the agent’s narratives with the visual language of each image. — Stephanie Wambugu, Vulture, 12 Oct. 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