exhaustive — exhaustive, exhausting Both words are derived from the verb exhaust, but relate to different meanings. Exhaustive relates to the meaning ‘use up the whole of’ (as in exhausting a supply) and means ‘thorough or comprehensive’: • We have all read… … Modern English usage
Exhaustive — Ex*haust ive, a. Serving or tending to exhaust; exhibiting all the facts or arguments; as, an exhaustive method. {Ex*haust ive*ly}, adv. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
exhaustive — index absolute (complete), complete (all embracing), comprehensive, definitive, detailed, full, gr … Law dictionary
exhaustive — 1780s, from EXHAUST (Cf. exhaust) + IVE (Cf. ive). Related: Exhaustively; exhaustiveness … Etymology dictionary
exhaustive — [adj] all inclusive, complete allembracing, all encompassing, all out, catholic, comprehensive, embracive, encyclopedic, extensive, far reaching, from A to Z*, full, full blown, full dress*, full scale, in depth, intensive, no stone unturned*,… … New thesaurus
exhaustive — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ fully comprehensive. DERIVATIVES exhaustively adverb exhaustiveness noun … English terms dictionary
exhaustive — [eg zôs′tiv, igzôs′tiv] adj. [ML exhaustivus] leaving nothing out; covering every possible detail; thorough exhaustively adv … English World dictionary
exhaustive — adj. VERBS ▪ be ADVERB ▪ by no means, hardly, not necessarily (esp. BrE) ▪ This list is by no means exhaustive. ▪ … Collocations dictionary
exhaustive — [[t]ɪgzɔ͟ːstɪv[/t]] ADJ GRADED If you describe a study, search, or list as exhaustive, you mean that it is very thorough and complete. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it gives an indication of the many projects taking place... The… … English dictionary
exhaustive — exhaustively, adv. exhaustiveness, n. /ig zaws tiv/, adj. 1. exhausting a subject, topic, etc.; comprehensive; thorough: He published an exhaustive study of Greek vases. 2. tending to exhaust or drain, as resources or strength: a protracted,… … Universalium
