thorough

adjective thor·ough \ ˈthər-(ˌ)ō , sometimes ˈthȯr- ; ˈthə-(ˌ)rō \

Definition of thorough

1 : carried through to completion : exhaustive

a thorough search

2 a : marked by full detail

a thorough description

b : careful about detail : painstaking

a thorough scholar

c : complete in all respects

thorough pleasure

d : having full mastery (as of an art)

a thorough musician

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thoroughly

adverb

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thoroughness

noun

See thorough defined for English-language learners

See thorough defined for kids

Examples of thorough in a Sentence

… one realized that it was the restaurant's thorough and even comic Frenchness that had made it so entirely New York. —Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2004
Bruce tells me to squat down and Koani sidles up, ears flattened, tail tucked away, and gives my face a thorough licking. —Nicholas Evans, Daily Telegraph, 26 Sept. 1998
The job was uncharacteristically thorough for a Russian contract killing—three different types of bullets riddled Mikho's body. —New Republic, 15 Dec. 1997
… as I look into their black faces, their hope is so thorough and consuming it frightens me. —Bob Shacochis, Harper's, February 1995
a thorough understanding of the rules and regulations
The investigator will have to be thorough.

Recent Examples of thorough from the Web

So, basically, the official Lucasfilm stance is a lot of crap, designed to confuse people who don't have a thorough knowledge of how post-production works.

— lee hutchinson, Ars Technica, "Could Disney finally give us the remastered, unedited Star Wars we want?," 6 Nov. 2017
Doing a thorough comparison of health care plans is difficult.

— richard h. thaler, New York Times, "Which Health Plan Is Cheaper?," 4 Nov. 2017
That test car also had but 700 miles on the odometer; back then, BMW engines needed a thorough break-in to unlock maximum performance.

— michael simari, Car and Driver, "We Drive the Busted-Out BMW M3 Lightweight That Helped Develop Michelin Performance Tires," 3 Nov. 2017
Food writer Judy Walker wrote a thorough explanation of the Day of the Dead and then shared a few traditional Mexican recipes to celebrate the day.

— ann maloney, NOLA.com, "Chicken with Pipian Rojo: A Day of the Dead recipe," 1 Nov. 2017
DeCurtis offers a thorough account of how the Velvet Underground came to be, and of the power struggles that plagued this commercially unsuccessful but (eventually) massively influential band.

— jim higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "'Lou Reed': Anthony DeCurtis' biography depicts an artist defined by his defiance," 6 Oct. 2017
Qualcomm, a company founded and run by engineers, could probably use a thorough going over by Hock and his green eyeshade crew.

— aaron pressman, Fortune, "Why Broadcom Buying Qualcomm Isn't as Crazy as it Seems," 3 Nov. 2017
Each specimen is tagged with a thorough identification card, which provides information on its provenance as well as essential statistical data.

— ryan p. smith, Smithsonian, "How Artificial Intelligence Could Revolutionize Archival Museum Research," 3 Nov. 2017
But a thorough beating like this -- two weeks after a dispiriting home loss to rival Michigan State?

— nick baumgardner, Detroit Free Press, "Jim Harbaugh's right, we're going to find out what Michigan football's made of," 24 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'thorough.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.