Definition of 'breathe'
Word forms: 3rd person singular present tense breathes
, present participle breathing
, past tense, past participle breathed
1. verb
3. verb [no cont]
If you do not breathe a word about something, you say nothing about it, because it is a secret.
4. verb
If someone breathes life, confidence, or excitement into something, they improve it by adding this quality.
[written]
5. verb
6.
Phrasal verbs:
See breathe in
See breathe out
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
breathe in British English
verb
3. (intransitive)
stop your questions, and give me a chance to breathe
4. (intransitive)
(esp of air) to blow lightly
the wind breathed through the trees
5. (intransitive) machinery
12. See breathe again
13. See breathe down someone's neck
14. See breathe one's last
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin
C13: from breathWord Frequency
breathe in American English
verb intransitive, verb transitiveWord forms: breathed or ˈbreathing
1.
b.
to inhale (in full, breathe in) or exhale (in full, breathe out)
c.
to carry on respiration (sense 2)
2.
to live
3. OLD-FASHIONED, Poetic
to give out (an odor)
5. OLD-FASHIONED, Poetic
to blow softly
7.
to give or take time to breathe; rest
to breathe a horse
8.
to pant or cause to pant, as from exertion
9.
said of wine
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Derived forms
breathable (ˈbreathable)
adjective
Word Frequency
breathe in American English
(brið) (verb breathed (briðd), breathing)
intransitive verb
1.
to take air, oxygen, etc., into the lungs and expel it; inhale and exhale; respire
4.
to move gently or blow lightly, as air
5.
to live; exist
Hardly a man breathes who has not known great sorrow
6.
to be redolent of
7. (of a material)
to allow air and moisture to pass through easily
The jacket is comfortable because the fabric breathes
transitive verb
SYNONYMS 14. utter, tell, murmur, voice; reveal, divulge.10.
to inhale and exhale in respiration
11.
to exhale
Dragons breathe fire
13.
to give utterance to; whisper
14.
to express; manifest
17.
to cause to pant; exercise
18. See breathe down someone's neck
19. See breathe freely
20. See breathe one's last
21. See not breathe a word
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Word origin
[1250–1300; ME brethen, deriv. of breath]Examples of 'breathe' in a sentence
breathe
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In other languages
breathe
British English: breathe
/briːð/ VERB
When people or animals breathe, they take air into their lungs and let it out again.
He stood there breathing deeply and evenly.
- American English: breathe /ˈbrið/
- Arabic: يَتَنَفَّس
- Brazilian Portuguese: respirar
- Chinese: 呼吸
- Croatian: disati
- Czech: dýchat
- Danish: ånde
- Dutch: ademen
- European Spanish: respirar
- Finnish: hengittää
- French: respirer
- German: atmen
- Greek: αναπνέω
- Italian: respirare
- Japanese: 息をする
- Korean: 숨을 쉬다
- Norwegian: puste
- Polish: odetchnąć
- European Portuguese: respirar
- Romanian: a respira
- Russian: дышать
- Latin American Spanish: respirar
- Swedish: andas
- Thai: หายใจ
- Turkish: nefes almak
- Ukrainian: дихати
- Vietnamese: thở
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Definition of breathe from the Collins English Dictionary
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a place where bees are kept, usually in beehives
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