DictionaryAI

exciting

ik-SY-ting/ɪkˈsʌɪtɪŋ/

4 meanings of exciting

Practice

  1. 1
    thrillingadjective
    Producing a feeling of excitement or eager interest in those who experience it.

    Scientists found the experiment's results genuinely exciting and rushed to publish them.

    Investors described the new technology as exciting and full of promise.

    UsageDescribes the cause of the feeling: an exciting game. People who feel it are excited (not incorrect: I am exciting).

    Similarthrilling, exhilarating, stimulating, electrifying, intriguing

    Oppositeboring, dull, tedious, uninteresting

  2. 2
    hyping upverb
    Present participle and gerund of excite.

    Early reviews of the sequel are already exciting fans who have waited ten years for it.

    Constantly exciting the audience, the host never let the energy drop.

    UsageAs a verb it takes an object: exciting fans. Very exciting is the adjective, not this form.

    Note

    The verbal form keeps every meaning of excite, including the physicist's: one can speak of exciting an electron to a higher level or exciting an electromagnet.

  3. 3
    sexualadjective
    Causing sexual arousal or stimulating sexual desire in a person.

    The lovers exchanged a long glance that both found intensely exciting.

    She admitted that his whispered words in the dark were unexpectedly exciting.

    Similararousing, titillating, erotic, sexy

    Note

    Context does all the work here, because nothing in the form separates it from the general 'thrilling' meaning. It can describe substances as well as moments or people. Harry E. Wedeck's Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs (1961) calls a Turkish blend of olibanum, myrrh, camphor and musk "an exciting compound." Where the setting is not plainly erotic, readers will hear the milder meaning instead.

    Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Harry E. Wedeck wrote Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, first published in 1961. en.wikipedia.org
    • Wedeck calls a Turkish mixture of olibanum, myrrh, camphor and musk "an exciting compound." en.wiktionary.org

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    nounrarecountable or uncountable
    The process by which something becomes excited or is stirred into greater activity; excitation.

    Similarstimulation, activation

    Note

    The noun usually names the process as a whole, but older devotional prose occasionally counts single stirrings and puts them in the plural. George Herbert writes of children and servants "wanting many excitings of grace," meaning the promptings that move the soul toward good. Excitation does the plainer work today, and the plural excitings has a deliberately old, devotional ring that suits writing in that style.

    Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Older religious prose uses the countable plural excitings for individual stirrings. anglicanhistory.org
    • George Herbert uses the exact words “wanting many excitings of grace” about children and servants. anglicanhistory.org
    • The phrase refers to spiritual stirrings toward good; the context is the benefit of receiving Communion. anglicanhistory.org

exciting is a form of excite

excite, verb: To stir up strong feelings in someone, especially eager anticipation or thrill. Full entry

Forms
exciteexcites he/she/itexciting -ing formexcited past tense, past participle
Spelling
excite → exciting: drop the e, add -ing

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