exhaustive
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Pronunciation
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
Meanings
Adjective
- Thorough and complete, covering every part or possibility: The committee carried out an exhaustive review of the accounts.[7][6][5]
- Tending to exhaust or drain strength or resources.[7][6][5]
Word family
- exhaustively
- exhaustiveness
- exhaustivity
- unexhaustive
- nonexhaustive
Related words
- exhaust
- exhaustion
- inexhaustible
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
- ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins