Word.ws English Dictionary

with 'bated breath

with 'bated breath is the alternative form of with bated breath.

Meaning of with bated breath

Prepositional phrase

  1. With reduced breath.
    • Shall I bend low, and in a bond-mans key / With bated breath, and whiſpring humbleneſſe, / Say this:c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (idiomatic) Eagerly; with great anticipation.
    • We are waiting with bated breath for the release of the new version.

Questions about with 'bated breath

What is with 'bated breath the alternative form of?
With 'bated breath is the alternative form of with bated breath.

Words near with 'bated breath in the dictionary

  1. witfully
  2. witfulness
  3. witgat
  4. witgats
  5. with
  6. with 'bated breath
  7. with a bang
  8. with a bullet
  9. with a bump
  10. with a grain of salt
  11. with a high arm

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: with 'bated breath (page history and authors); with bated 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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Cite this entry: “with 'bated breath.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/with_%27bated_breath. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.