exhaustive

Etymology

It is formed from English exhaust + -ive.^[2][3][4] The OED analyses it as the Latin participial stem exhaust- with the English suffix.^[5] Exhaust is from Latin exhaustus, the past participle of exhauriō (“to draw off, take away, use up, empty”), from ex (“off”) and hauriō (“to draw up”), used of water.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Leaving no part of a subject unexamined; complete, comprehensive: 1786–9, in Jeremy Bentham.^[5] Etymonline dates it to 1789,^[2] and Merriam-Webster to about 1789.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense of thoroughness came first, especially of writing or speech that leaves no part of its subject unexamined.^[2][5] The literal sense, tending to exhaust or drain strength or resources, is recorded only from 1817, in James Mill's History of British India.^[5]

Timeline

• 1786 – thorough, leaving nothing unexamined.^[5]
• 1817 – tending to exhaust or drain.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Thorough and complete, covering every part or possibility: The committee carried out an exhaustive review of the accounts.^[7][6][5]
2. Tending to exhaust or drain strength or resources.^[7][6][5]

Word family

• exhaustively
• exhaustiveness
• exhaustivity
• unexhaustive
• nonexhaustive

Related words

• exhaust
• exhaustion
• inexhaustible

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins