exhilarating

adjective

ex·​hil·​a·​rat·​ing ig-ˈzi-lə-ˌrā-tiŋ 

: causing strong feelings of happy excitement and elation : thrilling

an exhilarating experience

… an exhilarating ride that allows participants to catch an aerial view like they've never seen before.

—Kathryn M. Roy

… I would like to convey the sense of flight as it was almost at the very beginning of itself, when everything about it was miraculous and dangerous and exhilarating.

—James Dickey

… an exhilarating career full of deals sealed at three-martini lunches.

—Andrea Cooper

exhilaratingly

ig-ˈzi-lə-ˌrā-tiŋ-lē 

adverb

an exhilaratingly funny performance

Synonyms of exhilarating

• exciting
• breathtaking
• thrilling
• interesting
• intriguing

Examples of exhilarating in a Sentence

no recording can capture the exhilarating feeling of being at a live rock concert

Recent Examples on the Web

The excitement is new for your friend, and exhilarating, but the dynamics of it will inevitably shift and grow into something more manageable for the both of you. —Literary Hub, 18 June 2026

Martha Stewart took a page out of Taylor Swift’s book and wore a version of the now-viral Ts she and her friends wore at the exhilarating game four of the finals. —Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 18 June 2026

There’s something vital about moving toward the unknown — a joyful excitement, almost exhilarating. —Alma Rota, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2026

The exhilarating ride experience alone looks to be enough to draw a crowd but Miral isn’t stopping there. —Caroline Reid, Forbes.com, 13 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1634, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for exhilarating

• accelerating
• accentuating
• accommodating
• accumulating
• adjudicating
• administrating
• affiliating
• agglutinating
• alienating
• alleviating
• amalgamating
• ameliorating