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

• breathtaking
• charged
• electric
• electrifying
• exciting
• exhilarating
• exhilarative
• galvanic
• galvanizing
• hair-raising
• heart-stopping
• inspiring
• intoxicating
• kicky
• mind-bending
• mind-blowing
• mind-boggling
• rip-roaring
• rousing
• stimulating
• stirring

Examples of thrilling in a Sentence

a thrilling adventure movie

Recent Examples on the Web

Read: What makes Industry the most thrilling show on TV On the surface, these decisions appear to be deeply personal, based on a distinct, internal logic. —Zachary Siegel, The Atlantic, 4 Oct. 2024

Yes, in customary HBO fashion, many of Industry’s most thrilling scenes are moments of twisted interpersonal dynamics. —Byallie Garfinkle, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2024

That Cave made thrilling, volcanic music, instead of music that people keep telling me is actually quite good. —Spin Staff, SPIN, 30 Sep. 2024

All the while, Oh and Comer’s slow dance of antagonism crossed with infatuation is some of the most thrilling acting in recent television memory. —Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 29 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1768, in the meaning defined above