thrilling

adjective

thrill·​ing ˈthri-liŋ 

: causing a feeling of great excitement or happiness

a thrilling discovery

a thrilling performance

… flashes into the end zone to give the Rams the winning touchdown in the most thrilling Super Bowl finish ever.

—Rick Reilly

thrillingly

ˈthri-liŋ-lē 

adverb

Who, in fact, are the good guys and who are the bad guys in the dramas that unfold here so thrillingly?

—Marie Winn

… this is a powerful and thrillingly strange movie …

—Terrence Rafferty

Synonyms

• breathtaking
• charged
• electric
• electrifying
• exciting
• exhilarating
• exhilarative
• galvanic
• galvanizing
• hair-raising
• heart-stopping
• inspiring
• intoxicating
• kicky
• mind-bending
• mind-blowing
• mind-boggling
• rip-roaring
• rousing
• stimulating
• stirring

Examples of thrilling in a Sentence

a thrilling adventure movie

Recent Examples on the Web

The Gators pulled off a thrilling 65-63win over the Cougars, overcoming a 12-point deficit against the nation’s best defensive unit. —Dj Siddiqi, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025

The rest of the show is a thrilling unmooring from heterosexual convention. —Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025

That second issue showcased a racially diverse team of astronauts and their thrilling mission to the moon. —Jeff Spry, Space.com, 6 Apr. 2025

That included a career-high 42 points in a thrilling 104-98 overtime win over Villanova in Saturday’s semifinals. —Matt Murschel, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1768, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for thrilling

• billing
• chilling
• drilling
• filling
• grilling
• killing
• milling
• pilling
• rilling
• schilling
• shilling
• skilling