Other forms: exhilarating, exhilarated
To exhilarate is to fill somebody with excited high spirits. Exhilarated by the ride, an exhilarating climb, exhilarate the crowd.
It is nearly always used in the passive or as an adjective — people are exhilarated rather than exhilarating each other. The feeling has a physical component, since the same adrenaline underlies fear and thrill. Note the h in the middle, which people drop when spelling it.
1verbexhilarateTo fill somebody with excited high spirits.
“The first ride on the roller coaster exhilarated the kids, and they ran straight back to the queue.”
exhilarate is an enlivening.
Latin exhilarare means to gladden thoroughly — ex plus hilarare, to cheer, from hilaris, cheerful. Hilarious is the same root.
Ancient Greek
ἱλαρός — cheerful, merry
Proto-Indo-European
*h₁eǵʰs — out
Latin
exhilarō — to delight, to gladden, to make merry
English, today
exhilarate
Built from
From Latin exhilarō (“to delight, to gladden, to make merry”), from ex- (“out, away”) (from Proto-Indo-European h₁eǵʰs (“out”)) + hilarō (“to cheer, to gladden”), from hilaris (“cheerful, light-hearted, lively”), from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (“cheerful, merry”), from ἵλαος (“gracious, kind, propitious”), from Proto-Indo-European selh₂- (“comfort, mercy”). by surface analysis, ex- + hilar(ō) + -ate.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA