thorough
- 1Carefully done so that no detail is overlooked or left out.
The auditor's thorough review uncovered errors that others had missed.
Detectives carried out a thorough search of the abandoned property.
UsageCommon in a thorough search and a thorough review. Spelled thorough (not
incorrect: through).Similarmeticulous, careful, detailed, comprehensive, exhaustive
Oppositesuperficial, cursory, careless, perfunctory
- 2Complete and absolute; total in extent or degree.
The new policy was a thorough failure that pleased no one.
She made a thorough fool of him in front of the whole office.
UsageMostly before nouns for faults or kinds of person: a thorough nuisance, a thorough failure.
Similarcomplete, utter, total, absolute, outright
Oppositepartial
Note
Here the word measures degree, not care. In Gandhi's phrase, "the drone is a thorough idler." The drone is completely idle, not diligent about its idleness. That contrast with the painstaking meaning is the easy test. When the noun names a fault or a kind of person, as in idler, fool or failure, thorough means utter. When it names a task, it means careful.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The quoted words occur in Gandhi's autobiographical narration. mkgandhi.org
- 3Through; passing from one side or end of something to the other.
You are contented to be led in triumph Thorough the streets of Rome?
1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”Note
The preposition the adjective grew from lives on in verse. Spenser uses it in The Faerie Queene (1590), Shakespeare in Julius Caesar (1599), and Coleridge still writes "Thorough the fog it came" in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It is through with an extra syllable, and today it reads only as deliberate archaism.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- The adjective thorough developed from the preposition. en.wiktionary.org
- Spenser uses thorough as a preposition in The Faerie Queene. en.wikisource.org
- The Faerie Queene was first published in 1590. en.wikisource.org
- Shakespeare uses thorough as a preposition in Julius Caesar. folger.edu
- Julius Caesar was first published in 1623; 1599 is its composition and first-performance date. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
- Coleridge wrote the quoted words in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. gutenberg.org
- Thorough here means through and has an additional syllable. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meaning
- 4A furrow between two ridges of ground, cut to drain off surface water.
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Origin
From Middle English thoruȝ, from Old English þuruh, a byform of Old English þurh, which is also the source of English "through." The adjective comes from the preposition and adverb, and the word developed its longer, syllabic form when it was fully stressed as an adverb, adjective, or noun.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Thorough derives from Middle English thoruȝ, from Old English þuruh. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English þuruh was a variant of þurh. en.wiktionary.org
- English through also derives from Old English þurh. en.wiktionary.org
- The adjective derives from the preposition and adverb. en.wiktionary.org
- The longer, syllabic form developed under full stress, including use as an adverb, adjective, or noun. en.wiktionary.org