breath

Pluralbreaths

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A single act of drawing air into the lungs or pushing it back out.

   Take a long breath and hold it for five seconds.

   The runner's breaths came in short bursts after the sprint.

   Similarinhalation

   Note

   Here breath becomes something you can count: one breath, two breaths, a deep breath. Unlike breathing as a process, it pairs with verbs of action. You take a deep breath or draw a deep breath, and the adjective usually comes before the noun. Keep the spelling straight: breath without a final -e is always the noun, and breathe is the verb.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act or process of taking air into and out of the lungs.

   Meditation often begins with quiet attention to the breath.

   His breath grew shallow as the illness progressed.

   Similarbreathing, respiration

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The air pushed out of the lungs during exhalation.

   The cold turned everyone's breath into little clouds.

   He fogged the window with his breath and drew a smiley face.

   Similarexhalation

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A short rest or pause.

   After the long meeting, the team took a breath before the next task.

   There was barely a breath between the two acts of the play.

   Similarpause, rest, respite, break, lull

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A slight amount of something, such as a faint breeze or a little common sense.

   Not a breath of air stirred the leaves in the heavy heat.

   The new manager brought a breath of common sense to the chaotic office.

   Similarhint, trace, whiff, touch, puff

   Note

   A measure of smallness, usually used when the amount is close to nothing: hardly a breath of air, or if she had a breath of common sense. It sits naturally beside negatives and conditionals. It stretches from the literal, a faint stir of wind, to the figurative, any trace of good judgment. The frame is fixed: a breath of, followed by whatever is in short supply.

6. 6
   adjective

   Of a speech sound, produced without vibration of the vocal cords; voiceless, contrasting with voiced sounds.

   In a whisper, all the consonants turn into breath sounds.

   Linguists classify /f/ and /s/ as breath sounds.

   Similarvoiceless, unvoiced

   Oppositevoiced

   Note

   A phonetician's term, used before a noun: breath sounds as against voice sounds. A breath consonant is made without vibration of the vocal cords, so /s/ and /f/ are breath sounds. It means the same as voiceless or surd. The adjective is not comparable: a sound either is breath or it is not, so nothing is "more breath" than another.

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