thorough
/ˈθʌɹoʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.97 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep
Through.
Archaic
Example Sentences
- "The Prime Minister announced a thorough investigation into the death of a father-of-two in police custody."
- "Not enough! Your work has to be thorougher than this."
- "It's the most thorough artwork I have ever seen!"
- "The infested house needs a thorough cleansing before being inhabitable again."
- "Dr. Oldfield once said to me, 'You talk to me quite all right, but why is it that you never open your lips at a committee meeting? You are a drone.' I appreciated the banter. The bees are ever busy, the drone is a thorough idler."
- "Ye might haue ſeene the frothy billowes fry Vnder the ſhip, as thorough them ſhe went […]"
Etymology
From Middle English thoruȝ, þoruȝ, from Old English þuruh, a byform of Old English þurh, whence comes English through. The adjective derives from the preposition and adverb. The word developed a syllabic form in cases where the word was fully stressed: when it was used as an adverb, adjective, or noun, and less commonly when used as a preposition.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *terh₂-, thoruȝ, þuruh, þurh
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈθʌɹoʊ/
- British English: /ˈθʌɹə/
Usage
Inflected Forms
thorougher (comparative)
more thorough (comparative)
thoroughest (superlative)
most thorough (superlative)
thoro (alternative, informal)
thoroughs (plural)