Word.ws English Dictionary

held one's breath

held one's breath is the simple past and past participle of hold one's breath.

Meaning of hold one's breath

Verb

hold one's breath (third-person singular simple present holds one's breath, present participle holding one's breath, simple past and past participle held one's breath)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hold, one's, breath. To keep air in one's lungs, pausing noticeably before exhaling after previously inhaling.
  2. (idiomatic, usually in a negative) To wait expectantly for something to happen soon.
    • He might pay back the money he borrowed without you reminding him, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Questions about held one's breath

What is held one's breath the simple past and past participle of?
Held one's breath is the simple past and past participle of hold one's breath.

Words near held one's breath in the dictionary

  1. held it in
  2. held it together
  3. held off
  4. held on
  5. held one's alcohol
  6. held one's breath
  7. held one's drink
  8. held one's fire
  9. held one's head high
  10. held one's horses
  11. held one's jaw

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: held one's breath (page history and authors); hold one's 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.

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