EXHAUSTING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does exhausting mean? 

• EXHAUSTING (adjective)
  The adjective EXHAUSTING has 2 senses:

1. having a debilitating effect

2. producing exhaustion

  Familiarity information: EXHAUSTING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXHAUSTING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a debilitating effect

Synonyms:

draining; exhausting

Context example:

an exhausting job in the hot sun

Similar:

debilitating (impairing the strength and vitality)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Producing exhaustion

Synonyms:

exhausting; tiring; wearing; wearying

Context example:

the visit was especially wearing

Similar:

effortful (requiring great physical effort)

 Context examples 

Red giants are dying stars in the late stages of life that are exhausting the nuclear fuel that makes them shine.

(Hubble Detects Giant 'Cannonballs' Shooting from Star, NASA)

It was exhausting work, carried on, hour after hour, at top speed.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Check Yes or No if the adjective applies to your pain; exhausting.

(BPI - Exhausting, NCI Thesaurus)

Six days of exhausting toil were required to cover those thirty terrible miles.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Because tumor cells have elevated levels of ROS compared to normal cells, the increase in oxidative stress beyond baseline levels elevates ROS beyond sustainable levels, exhausting tumor cell antioxidant capacity, which may result in the induction of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.

(Elesclomol, NCI Thesaurus)

One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by my own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel, for my day’s work had been an exhausting one.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And she had always and consistently urged him to get a job, to go to work—good God!—as if he hadn't been working, robbing sleep, exhausting life, in order to be worthy of her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)