Meaning & use
thorough
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Done with great care and attention so that nothing is missed.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a linking verb: a thorough check; the check was thorough.
Patterns
- thorough in something
The inspector did a thorough check of the building.
She is thorough in everything she does.
A thorough cleaning of the kitchen took all afternoon.
adjectivebefore a nouninformal
Complete or total, used to stress how much something is the case.
Grammar: Appears before a noun, often something negative: a thorough mess.
The meeting was a thorough waste of time.
He made a thorough nuisance of himself.
Word forms
| comparative | more thorough |
|---|---|
| superlative | most thorough |
Common combinations
- thorough investigation
- Police launched a thorough investigation.
- thorough understanding
- He has a thorough understanding of the law.
- thoroughly
- Wash your hands thoroughly.
- thorough search
- A thorough search found nothing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- meticulous
- Meticulous puts the focus on careful attention to small details.
- comprehensive
- Comprehensive means covering everything, but does not suggest the care of the worker.
- exhaustive
- Exhaustive is stronger and implies nothing was left untried.
Opposites
Word family
- thoroughly adverb
- in a complete way
- thoroughness noun
- the quality of being thorough
Commonly confused: thorough or through? thorough or thoroughfare?
thorough vs through
Through means passing from one side to the other; thorough means complete.
thorough vs thoroughfare
A thoroughfare is a main road.
Practice
The doctor gave her a ______ examination and checked every system.
Choose one answer.
Thorough means complete and careful. Through is a preposition, so it cannot modify a noun here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “thorough”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.