Word.ws English Dictionary

breathing down someone's neck

breathing down someone's neck is the present participle and gerund of breathe down someone's neck.

Meaning of breathe down someone's neck

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)

  1. (idiomatic) 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.

Questions about breathing down someone's neck

What is breathing down someone's neck the present participle and gerund of?
Breathing down someone's neck is the present participle and gerund of breathe down someone's neck.

Words near breathing down someone's neck in the dictionary

  1. breathing apparatus
  2. breathing apparatuses
  3. breathing back to life
  4. breathing cave
  5. breathing caves
  6. breathing down someone's neck
  7. breathing easy
  8. breathing freely
  9. breathing gas
  10. breathing gases
  11. breathing in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: breathing down someone's neck (page history and authors); 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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