breathe down someone's neck
breathe down someone's neck verb: to follow or supervise someone too closely, causing discomfort for that person.
Verb
breathe down someone's neck (third-person singular simple present breathes down someone's neck, present participle breathing down someone's neck, simple past and past participle breathed down someone's neck)
- To follow or supervise someone too closely, causing discomfort for that person.
- My boss never lets me get on with my work. He's always breathing down my neck and checking up on me.
Forms of breathe down someone's neck
| third-person singular present | breathes down someone's neck |
|---|---|
| present participle | breathing down someone's neck |
| past participle | breathed down someone's neck |
| past | breathed down someone's neck |
Questions about breathe down someone's neck
- What does breathe down someone's neck mean?
- Breathe down someone's neck means to follow or supervise someone too closely, causing discomfort for that person.
- What part of speech is breathe down someone's neck?
- Breathe down someone's neck is a verb.
- What is the past tense of breathe down someone's neck?
- The past tense of breathe down someone's neck is breathed down someone's neck.
Words near breathe down someone's neck in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: breathe down someone's neck (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-breathe down someone's neck.ogg.
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