breath
UK/bɹɛθ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/bɹeθ/
breath noun: the act or process of breathing. Also the misspelling of breathe.
Noun
breath (countable and uncountable, plural breaths)
- The act or process of breathing.
- I could hear the breath of the runner behind me.
- The child's breath came quickly and unevenly.
- A single act of breathing in or out; a breathing of air.
- I took a deep breath and started the test.
- Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.[…]She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her...1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
- Air expelled from the lungs.
- I could feel the runner's breath on my shoulder.
- A rest or pause.
- Let's stop for a breath when we get to the top of the hill.
- A small amount of something, such as wind, or common sense.
- Even with all the windows open, there is hardly a breath of air in here.
- If she had a breath of common sense, she would never have spoken to the man in the first place.
- Fragrance; exhalation; odor; perfume.
- Autumn[…]Who wakenest with thy balmy breath1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “(please specify |part=Prologue or Epilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX)”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
- the breath of flowers1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
- Gentle exercise, causing a quicker respiration.
- an after dinner's breathc. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Adjective
breath (not comparable)
Also used as
breath is also the misspelling of breathe.
breath meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
breath in Hindi
- act or process of breathing
- सांस sāns, श्वास śvās, दम dam, नफ़स nafas, नफस naphas
- single act of breathing in and out
- सांस sāns, दम dam
breath in Tamil
- act or process of breathing
- மூச்சு mūccu
breath in Marathi
- act or process of breathing
- श्वास śvās
breath in Urdu
- act or process of breathing
- دَم dam, سان٘س sā̃s, نَفَس nafas
More languagesFewer languages
- breath in Bengali
- দম dom
- breath in Telugu
- శ్వాస śvāsa, ఊపిరి ūpiri
- breath in Odia
- ପ୍ରାଣ prāṇa
- breath in Sanskrit
- प्राण prāṇa
- breath in Assamese
- উশাহ uxah, নিশাহ nixah, উশাহ-নিশাহ uxah-nixah
- breath in Pashto
- سا sā
- breath in Arabic
- نَفَس nafas
- breath in Malay
- nafas
- breath in Indonesian
- napas
- breath in Vietnamese
- hô hấp
Examples of breath in a sentence
- I reached the northern bound of my property, took a deep breath and walked on.
- He claims he can hold his breath for three minutes straight.
- We took a rest at the top of the hill to get our breath back.
Forms of breath
| plural | breaths |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | breth |
Origin of breath
From Middle English breeth, breth, from Old English brǣþ (“odor, scent, stink, exhalation, vapor”), from Proto-West Germanic *brāþi (“vapour, waft, exhalation, breath”) (compare German Brodem (“haze, vapor; breath”), of a different but related formation).
Words formed from breath
- arse breath
- arsebreath
- ass-breath
- assbreath
- ass breath
- baby's breath
- bad breath
- beanbreath
- breathalyzer
- breath and britches
- breatharian
- breath-catching
- breath-catchingly
- breath check
- breath control
- breathe one's last breath
- breather
- breathful
- breath guard
- breathhold
- breath-holding
- breathless
- breathlike
- breathly
- breath mark
- breath mint
- breath of fresh air
- breath of heaven
- breath of life
- breathplay
- breath play
- breathsome
- breath spray
- breath strip
- breathtaker
- breathtaking
- breath test
- breathwork
- breathy
- buttbreath
- butt breath
- butt-breath
- catch breath
- catch-breath
- catch one's breath
- cockbreath
- commission breath
- cuntbreath
- devil's breath
- dickbreath
- dogbreath
- don't hold your breath
- dragonbreath
- dragonsbreath
- draw a sober breath
- draw breath
- draw one's last breath
- fart-breath
- fresh breath
- get one's breath back
Phrases with breath
- drew breath
- good breath
- take breath
- took breath
- vase breath
- breath marks
- breath mints
- breath tests
- drawn breath
- draws breath
- taken breath
- takes breath
76 more phrasesFewer phrases
- waste breath
- breath checks
- breath guards
- breath sprays
- breath strips
- out of breath
- take a breath
- taking breath
- took a breath
- wasted breath
- wastes breath
- wiener breath
- drawing breath
- morning breath
- taken a breath
- takes a breath
- wasting breath
- short of breath
- taking a breath
- waste of breath
- see one's breath
- under the breath
- held one's breath
- hold one's breath
- save one's breath
- with bated breath
- with every breath
- holds one's breath
- in the same breath
- saved one's breath
- saves one's breath
- take a deep breath
- the breath of life
- took a deep breath
- under one's breath
- with 'bated breath
- with baited breath
- caught one's breath
- drew a sober breath
- saving one's breath
- shortness of breath
- taken a deep breath
- takes a deep breath
- catches one's breath
- drawn a sober breath
- draws a sober breath
- taking a deep breath
- catching one's breath
- got one's breath back
- shortnesses of breath
- drawing a sober breath
- drew one's last breath
- gets one's breath back
- with one's last breath
- drawn one's last breath
- draws one's last breath
- underneath one's breath
- with one's dying breath
- drawing one's last breath
- getting one's breath back
- breathed one's last breath
- breathes one's last breath
- take someone's breath away
- took someone's breath away
- breathing one's last breath
- taken someone's breath away
- takes someone's breath away
- taking someone's breath away
- keep one's breath to cool one's porridge
- kept one's breath to cool one's porridge
- save one's breath to cool one's porridge
- keeps one's breath to cool one's porridge
- saved one's breath to cool one's porridge
- saves one's breath to cool one's porridge
- saving one's breath to cool one's porridge
- keeping one's breath to cool one's porridge
Words that rhyme with breath
Questions about breath
- What does breath mean?
- Breath means the act or process of breathing.
- What is breath in Hindi?
- Breath in Hindi is सांस (sāns), श्वास (śvās), दम (dam). See Breath meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is breath?
- Breath can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce breath?
- Breath is pronounced /bɹɛθ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of breath?
- The plural of breath is breaths.
Words near breath in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: breath (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-breath.ogg.
Cite this entry: “breath.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/breath. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.