1. EXHILARATING

dramatic ▪ heady ▪ thrilling ▪ exhilarating

These words all describe an event, experience or feeling that causes excitement.

exciting causing great interest or excitement:

This is one of the most exciting developments in biology in recent years.

dramatic (of events or scenes) exciting and impressive:

They watched dramatic pictures of the police raid on TV.

heady having a strong effect on your senses; making you feel excited and full of hope:

the heady days of youth

thrilling exciting and a lot of fun:

Don’t miss next week’s thrilling episode!

exhilarating very exciting and great fun:

My first parachute jump was an exhilarating experience.

exciting, thrilling or exhilarating?

Exhilarating is the strongest of these words and exciting the least strong. 

Exciting is the most general and can be used to talk about any activity, experience, feeling or event that excites you. 

Thrilling is used especially for contests and stories where the ending is uncertain.

Exhilarating is used especially for physical activities that involve speed and/​or danger.

*Patterns

a(n) exciting/​dramatic/​heady/​thrilling/​exhilarating experience/​moment

a(n) exciting/​dramatic/​heady atmosphere

a(n) exciting/​dramatic/​thrilling finish/​finale/​victory/​win

 

2. BORING

dull ▪ tedious

These words all describe a subject, activity, person or place that is not interesting or exciting.

boring not interesting; making you feel tired and impatient:

He’s such a boring man!

She found her job very boring.

dull not interesting or exciting:

Life in a small town could be deadly dull.

tedious lasting or taking too long and not interesting, so that you feel bored and impatient:

The journey soon became tedious.

Patterns

to be boring/​dull/​tedious for somebody

boring/​dull/​tedious subjects/​books

boring/​dull/​tedious jobs/​work/​games

a boring/​dull place/​man/​woman/​person

deadly boring/​dull