inhale
UK/ɪnˈheɪl/
inhale verb: to draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.
Verb
inhale (third-person singular simple present inhales, present participle inhaling, simple past and past participle inhaled)
- To draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.
- “Please. I’m starved.” Her gaze followed the man with the meatpies while she inhaled deeply, trying to hold onto the heavenly scent. […] “I find myself ravenous for meatpie.”1998, Katherine Greyle, Oracle: The Prophesy Fulfilled, Zephyr Cove, Nev.: LionHearted Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, pages 72 and 74
- Synonyms:
- breathe in, inbreathe, inspire
- Antonyms:
- breathe out, outbreathe, exhale, expire
- To draw air or any form of gas (either in a pure form, or mixed with small particles in the form of aerosols/smoke, sometimes stemming from a medicament) into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.
- […] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where speculation lurks in corners, and of which Madame Vauquer inhales the warm, fetid air without being nauseated.1878, Henry James, “Honoré de Balzac”, in French Poets and Novelists, London: Macmillan, II, p. 122
- And he led the way from the station, stopping once to gloat over the sunset across Trafalgar Square, and again to inhale the tarry scent of the warm wood-paving, which was perfume to his nostrils as the din of its traffic was music to his ears, before we came to one of those political palaces which...1909, E[rnest] W[illiam] Hornung, “An Inaugural Banquet”, in Mr. Justice Raffles, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 2
- Synonyms:
- breathe in, inbreathe, inspire, fetch
- Antonyms:
- breathe out, outbreathe, exhale
- To eat very quickly.
- She had also forgotten both diet and protocol as she joined Sven in guzzling large cokes, practically inhaling fries and gravy, and rounding off the meal with double malts.2014, Dee Disheau, Love in the Sand and the Snow, page 26
Noun
inhale (plural inhales)
- An inhalation.
- Now have client take slower, normal breaths through the nose and notice how the abdomen moves slightly outward with each inhale and then deflates with each exhale.2009, David A. Clark, Aaron T. Beck, Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders: Science and Practice
inhale meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
inhale in Hindi
- to inhale, breathe in
- सूँघना sūṅghnā
- to inhale
- सांस लेना sāns lenā
inhale in Tamil
- மூச்சு உள்ளிழு, புகையை உள்ளிழு, மூச்சில் இழுத்தல்
inhale in Marathi
- श्वास आत घेणे
inhale in Urdu
- to inhale, breathe in
- سونگھنا sūṅghnā
More languagesFewer languages
- inhale in Bengali
- শ্বাস নেওয়া, প্রশ্বাস গ্রহণ করা, ভেতরে টানা
- inhale in Telugu
- ఉచ్ఛ్వాసించు ucchvāsiñcu, పీల్చు pīlcu
- inhale in Malayalam
- മണപ്പിക്കുക, ഉറുഞ്ചുക, ശ്വസിക്കുക, ശ്വാസം പിടിക്കുക
- inhale in Kannada
- ಉಸಿರೆಳೆ, ಸೇದಿಕೊ, ಒಳಸೇದು
- inhale in Punjabi
- سنگھنا suṉghṇā, کھچنا khiccṇā
- inhale in Gujarati
- સૂંઘવું sūṅghvũ
- inhale in Odia
- ନିଶ୍ୱାସ ନେବା niśwāsa nebā
- inhale in Assamese
- উশাহ লোৱা uxah lüa
- inhale in Nepali
- श्वास तान्नु śvās tānnu
- inhale in Arabic
- شَهَقَ šahaqa
- inhale in Thai
- หายใจเข้า hǎai-jai-kâo, สูด sùut, ดม dom
- inhale in Vietnamese
- hít
Examples of inhale in a sentence
- Most inhaled uranium that reaches the lungs is eliminated via mucociliary clearance.
- When someone speaks after inhaling helium, his voice has a higher timbre. With sulfur hexafluoride, the result is a lower timbre.
- All types of asbestos are potentially carcinogenic when inhaled.
Synonyms of inhale
Antonyms
Forms of inhale
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | inhales |
| present participle | inhaling |
| past participle | inhaled |
| past | inhaled |
| Noun | |
| plural | inhales |
Origin of inhale
From Latin inhalare (“to breathe on (breathe in)”), from in (“in, into, on”) + halare (“to breathe”).
Words formed from inhale
Words that rhyme with inhale
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- veil
- pale
- avail
- wale
- whale
- bail
- hail
- yale
- bale
- snail
- travail
- brail
- exhale
- frail
- jail
- prevail
- swale
- vail
- wail
- derail
- dwale
- entail
- flail
- Gail
- gayle
- impale
- kale
- quail
- regale
- spale
- thumbnail
- white whale
- ale
- curtail
- drail
- gale
- retail
- shale
- tael
- unveil
- ail
- all hail
- assail
- ayel
- beyond the pale
- braille
- cakes and ale
- camail
Questions about inhale
- What does inhale mean?
- Inhale means to draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.
- What is inhale in Hindi?
- Inhale in Hindi is सूँघना (sūṅghnā), सांस लेना (sāns lenā). See Inhale meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is inhale?
- Inhale can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce inhale?
- Inhale is pronounced /ɪnˈheɪl/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of inhale?
- The past tense of inhale is inhaled.
Words near inhale in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: inhale (page history and authors); सांस लेना (Hindi) (page history and authors); inhale (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inhale (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); سونگھنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); Inhale (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inhale (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inhale (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); سنگھنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); સૂંઘવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ନିଶ୍ୱାସ ନେବା (Odia) (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-inhale.ogg.
Cite this entry: “inhale.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/inhale. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.