Meaning & use
thrilled
Last updated
Meaning
adjectiveafter a verb
Extremely happy and excited about something good that has happened or will happen.
Grammar: Usually follows be or feel and often takes about, at or to: she was thrilled to win.
Patterns
- thrilled to do something
- thrilled about something
- thrilled with something
- thrilled that ...
My parents were thrilled to hear that I had passed the exam.
The children were thrilled with their new puppy.
We are thrilled that so many neighbors came to the fair.
Common combinations
- absolutely thrilled
- The author was absolutely thrilled by the early reviews.
- thrilled to bits
- My grandmother was thrilled to bits with the flowers.
- thrilled to see
- I was thrilled to see so many old friends at the party.
- thrilled about the news
- Everyone was thrilled about the news of the promotion.
- not exactly thrilled
- He was not exactly thrilled about working on a holiday.
Synonyms and how they differ
- delighted
- Delighted is slightly more polite and formal, while thrilled adds a sense of excitement.
- overjoyed
- Overjoyed suggests deep happiness, and thrilled puts more weight on excitement.
- excited
- Excited can look forward to something that has not yet happened, but thrilled usually follows good news.
- pleased
- Pleased is much milder, so thrilled sounds more enthusiastic.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: thrilled or thrilling?
thrilled vs thrilling
Thrilling describes the thing that causes excitement, while thrilled describes the person who feels it.
Practice
The final match was so ___ that nobody left their seats.
Choose one answer.
The match causes the excitement, so the -ing adjective thrilling is needed. Thrilled would describe how a person feels.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “thrilled”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.