Word.ws English Dictionary

underbreath

underbreath adverb: under one's breath; inaudibly or in a barely audible manner.

Adverb

underbreath (comparative more underbreath, superlative most underbreath)

  1. Under one's breath; inaudibly or in a barely audible manner.
    • Muttering curses underbreath, he jabs the beast sharply with his training stick ; the elephant is hairy and it, like the clown, is ignoble.1978, The William and Mary Review - Volumes 17-18, page 66
    • The name, Night Stalker, seemed to find favor with Bo who repeated it underbreath several times.2004, John Oros Sentesi, Swanson, →ISBN

Adjective

underbreath (comparative more underbreath, superlative most underbreath)

  1. Vocalized under one's breath.
    • Aleck gave a low, underbreath whistle.1886, Wide Awake - Volume 22, page 102
    • No one laughed out loud, but the smiles and underbreath chuckles added to their discomfort.2011, George Truett Moore, The Slave: An Incredible Journey, →ISBN

Noun

underbreath (plural underbreaths)

  1. An utterance made so as not to be heard by most people in the area.
    • The underbreath of our every prayer should be, “Father, not my will, but thine be done”1845, Prayers for private persons, with reflections, page 105
    • He complained in occasional underbreaths, correcting himself immediately with a " No, no !" and blinking briskly.1887, George Meredith, Sandra Belloni: Originally, Emilia in England

Examples of underbreath in a sentence

  • Here, on the contrary, we murmur underbreath.2013, R. F. Fortune, Sorcerers of Dobu, →ISBN:
  • I got underbreath compliments from people in reference to my singing, but none of them wanted to know me.2012, Sheila L. Ramsey, Quest For A Gentleman: Sins of the First Freedom, →ISBN:
  • "Miss Barnard," he said, hurriedly, and in an underbreath.1914, Charles McEvoy, Private Affairs, page 265:
  • Alexandra asked in an underbreath as Ramsey turned and started down the hall.1988, Judith McNaught, Something Wonderful, →ISBN, page 64:

Forms of underbreath

Adverb
comparativemore underbreath
superlativemost underbreath
Adjective
comparativemore underbreath
superlativemost underbreath
Noun
pluralunderbreaths

Origin of underbreath

From under- + breath.

Questions about underbreath

What does underbreath mean?
Underbreath means under one's breath; inaudibly or in a barely audible manner.
How do you use underbreath in a sentence?
Here, on the contrary, we murmur underbreath.
What part of speech is underbreath?
Underbreath can be an adverb, an adjective or a noun.

Words near underbreath in the dictionary

  1. underbrake
  2. underbranch
  3. underbranches
  4. underbreak
  5. underbreaks
  6. underbreath
  7. underbreathe
  8. underbreathed
  9. underbreathes
  10. underbreathing
  11. underbreaths

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: underbreath (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-underbreath.wav.

Cite this entry: “underbreath.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/underbreath. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.