Exhilarating means causing strong feelings of excitement and joy; thrilling and life-affirming.

Exhilarating is commonly applied to the kind of experiences that fill you with joy, wake up your senses, or make you feel alive, like riding a rollercoaster, seeing the view from the top of a mountain, or diving into cold water. Someone who experiences something exhilarating can be described as exhilarated.

Exhilarating is the adjective form of the verb exhilarate, which most commonly means to enliven, invigorate, or stimulate. Exhilarating is most often used as an adjective, but it can also be used as the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb, as in These attractions will be exhilarating our guests from the moment they step inside the park. 

Example: The brisk wind blowing sparkling ice crystals through the air really made my morning walk exhilarating.

The first records of the word exhilarating as an adjective come from the 1600s. The verb exhilarate is recorded earlier, in the 1500s, and comes from the Latin exhilarāre, meaning “to gladden” (a less common meaning of the verb exhilarate is “to gladden” or “to make lively and cheerful”). Exhilarāre comes from hilarāre, meaning “to cheer,” and the word hilarious is based on the same root.

Exhilarating is always used positively—exhilarating things make you feel good. But not just good—the word is usually applied to intense feelings, ones that feel like a combination of pure joy and excitement. Such feelings usually come from intense experiences or activities, the kinds of ones that send a flash of adrenaline through your body or make you feel alive in some way. To be described as exhilarating, the experience has to be both intense and positive. Skiing down a mountain and feeling the bite of cold air might be exhilarating for some but downright terrifying for others.

What are some other forms of exhilarating?

• exhilarate (verb)
• exhilaration (noun)
• exhilarant (noun)

What are some synonyms for exhilarating?

• invigorating
• enlivening
• stimulating
• thrilling

What are some words that share a root or word element with exhilarating? 

• hilarious

What are some words that often get used in discussing exhilarating?

• experience
• feeling
• adrenaline
• rush
• alive
• exciting

Exhilarating is always used positively, especially to describe very intense feelings or experiences.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps review — an exhilarating, emotional masterpiece https://t.co/ZxzPcVDmV5 by @tolkoto

— GamesBeat (@GamesBeat) March 10, 2020

ahh that exhilarating feeling of reaching the summit and seeing this view ⛰😌

never thought i’d say this but hiking is actually fun (including the body pain days after haha) pic.twitter.com/0gPoEOQHmy

— jas p’her (@Jasfher) January 29, 2020

Still can’t believe I did this. What an exhilarating experience. Having the best time in New Zealand! pic.twitter.com/O7XUynsusb

— Brad Faxon (@BradFaxon) March 5, 2020

Is the word exhilarating used correctly in the following sentence?

Swimming with dolphins was so exhilarating—it feels like every cell in my body is pulsing with life.