thrilling

adjective

thrill·​ing ˈthri-liŋ 

: causing a feeling of great excitement or happiness

a thrilling discovery

a thrilling performance

… flashes into the end zone to give the Rams the winning touchdown in the most thrilling Super Bowl finish ever.

—Rick Reilly

thrillingly

ˈthri-liŋ-lē 

adverb

Who, in fact, are the good guys and who are the bad guys in the dramas that unfold here so thrillingly?

—Marie Winn

… this is a powerful and thrillingly strange movie …

—Terrence Rafferty

Synonyms of thrilling

• exciting
• breathtaking
• interesting
• intriguing

Examples of thrilling in a Sentence

a thrilling adventure movie

Recent Examples on the Web

Made by Battlefield Studios, Battlefield 6 may not be reinventing the wheel but proves to be one of the year’s most thrilling titles – thanks to its immersive, white-knuckle first-person gameplay. —Marc Saltzman, USA Today, 19 Dec. 2025

Instead, those potential pitfalls make Night Thoughts all the more thrilling and impressive. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025

This is Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful. —Literary Hub, 19 Dec. 2025

Those themes took center stage once again on Sunday as there were some thrilling matchups in the playoff hunt, as well as superstars suffering big injury blows. —Frank Nunns O'Connell, CNN Money, 15 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1768, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for thrilling

• billing
• chilling
• drilling
• filling
• grilling
• killing
• milling
• pilling
• rilling
• schilling
• shilling
• skilling