exhilarated

adjective

ex·​hil·​a·​rat·​ed ig-ˈzi-lə-ˌrā-təd 

: very happy and excited or elated

As we stepped together in … well-schooled synchrony, I felt free and exhilarated. I felt competent and loved.

—Natalie Angier

I found Pierre Gagnaire's food … so beautiful and so exciting that I grew increasingly exhilarated.

—Gourmet

I knew I was tempting fate with my brinkmanship, but I was drawn by the danger and too exhilarated to stop.

—Richard Bode

Synonyms

• ecstatic
• elated
• elevated
• enrapt
• enraptured
• entranced
• euphoric
• giddy
• heady
• intoxicated
• rapt
• rapturous
• rhapsodic
• rhapsodical

Examples of exhilarated in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Unlike his exhilarated mother, Titus reacted neutrally. —Jenna Russell, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Sep. 2023

She was surrounded by exhilarated doctors who had completed the first successful fetal brain surgery two days earlier. —Kyle Melnick, Washington Post, 12 May 2023

The video showing Masataka Yoshida’s return to Red Sox camp is charming and sweet, telling the story of an exhausted but exhilarated champion rejoining his American baseball teammates. —Tara Sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023

The day of races produced no formal winners or losers — just a lot of exhilarated athletes and boosters. —Chronicle Staff, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 Mar. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined above