Meaning & use
exhausting
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Using up so much strength or energy that you feel completely worn out.
Grammar: Describes the thing that causes tiredness: an exhausting day. Compare exhausted, which describes the tired person.
Patterns
- be exhausting to do something
- an exhausting day
The three-day hike across the mountains was exhausting.
Caring for a newborn is joyful but exhausting.
It was exhausting to argue with him about the same issue every night.
adjectivecomparable
Draining a person mentally or emotionally, even if little physical effort is involved.
Grammar: Often used with emotionally or mentally: an emotionally exhausting conversation.
Patterns
- emotionally exhausting
- mentally exhausting
Meetings with the difficult client were mentally exhausting.
Moving to a new country can be emotionally exhausting.
Word forms
| comparative | more exhausting |
|---|---|
| superlative | most exhausting |
Common combinations
- exhausting day
- After an exhausting day at work, she went straight to bed.
- physically exhausting
- Farm work is physically exhausting, especially in summer.
- emotionally exhausting
- Having the same argument again was emotionally exhausting.
- exhausting journey
- The exhausting journey took two days by bus.
- utterly exhausting
- Looking after twenty children was utterly exhausting.
- find something exhausting
- Many people find long meetings exhausting.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tiring
- Tiring is milder and ordinary, whereas exhausting suggests nothing is left.
- draining
- Draining stresses that energy or emotion is slowly taken away, often by stress.
- grueling
- Grueling suggests hard, punishing effort over a long time, and is common for training or schedules.
- wearing
- Wearing is slightly old-fashioned and suggests a gradual loss of patience or strength.
Opposites
Word family
- exhaust verb
- to tire someone out completely or use something up
- exhausted adjective
- completely tired out
- exhaustion noun
- extreme tiredness
- exhaustive adjective
- thorough and complete
- exhaustingly adverb
- in a way that tires you out
Commonly confused: exhausting or exhaustive? exhausting or exhausted?
exhausting vs exhaustive
Exhaustive means thorough and covering everything, as in an exhaustive search, and does not mean tiring.
exhausting vs exhausted
Exhausted describes how you feel, while exhausting describes what makes you feel that way.
Practice
After the marathon, Maria said, 'That race was ___.' Which word describes the race?
Choose one answer.
The race caused the tiredness, so the -ing adjective is needed. Exhausted would describe Maria herself, and exhaustive means thorough.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “exhausting”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.