breathless
pronunciation
How to pronounce breathless in British English:
UK [ˈbreθləs]
How to pronounce breathless in American English:
US [ˈbreθləs]
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- Adjective:
- not breathing or able to breathe except with difficulty
- tending to cause suspension of regular breathing
- appearing dead; not breathing or having no perceptible pulse
Word Origin
- breathless (adj.)
- late 14c., "unable to breathe," from breath + -less. Meaning "out of breath, panting" is from mid-15c. Used from 1590s in the sense "dead." Meaning "forgetting to breathe due to excitement, awe, anticipation, etc." is recorded from 1802. Related: Breathlessly; breathlessness.
Example
- 1. A fisherman drags nets of oysters from the turbid river water on a breathless summer day .
- 2. The primary itself , with televised debates and breathless live results on the news channels , gave the socialists a fresh , modern look .
- 3. Every breathless headline gave a steroidal boost to the penny mining stocks in my account , and within a few weeks a 10 percent gain in a day was ho-hum .
- 4. She , too , is breathless , as is the police man with her .
- 5. A new model 's launch often resembles a happy-clappy religious ceremony and endless , breathless hype greets every announcement of this or that additional feature .