Word.ws English Dictionary

with bated breath

UK/wɪð ˈbeɪtɪd ˈbɹɛθ/

with bated breath prepositional phrase: with reduced 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]...
    • […] with parted lips and bated breath the audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale.1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXIII, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 187
  2. (idiomatic) Eagerly; with great anticipation.
    • We are waiting with bated breath for the release of the new version.
    • Thanks to the previous experience of the chief performers, to careful preparation and rehearsal, and to perfect weather conditions, they watched in breath-bated silence the spectacle of the huge bulk moving without a hitch into position over the temporary pier caps on which it settled as water...1959 May, L. T. C. Rolt, “Centenary of the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash”, in Railway Magazine, page 310

with bated breath meaning in Telugu

with bated breath in Telugu

eagerly
ఊపిరి బిగబట్టి ūpiri bigabaṭṭi

Forms of with bated breath

alternative common misspellingwith 'bated breath
alternative common misspellingwith baited breath

Origin of with bated breath

From the verb bate, alteration by aphesis of the verb abate (“to reduce; lessen”). Coined by William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, see quotations.

Questions about with bated breath

What does with bated breath mean?
With bated breath means with reduced breath.
What is with bated breath in Telugu?
With bated breath in Telugu is ఊపిరి బిగబట్టి (ūpiri bigabaṭṭi). See With bated breath meaning in Telugu.
What part of speech is with bated breath?
With bated breath is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce with bated breath?
With bated breath is pronounced /wɪð ˈbeɪtɪd ˈbɹɛθ/ (UK).

Words near with bated breath in the dictionary

  1. with any luck
  2. with apologies to
  3. with arms wide open
  4. with bad grace
  5. with baited breath
  6. with bated breath
  7. with bells on
  8. with blackjack and hookers
  9. with both eyes open
  10. with both hands
  11. with brass knobs on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-with bated breath.ogg, en-au-with bated breath.ogg.

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