Breathless

//ˈbɹɛθləs// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Having difficulty breathing; gasping.

    "In thoughtless and breathless fear I rushed forward to avoid this host of demons, but while flying thus still more frightful and distorted shapes appeared, and I fancied I felt their hands clutching me."

  2. 2
    That makes one hold one's breath (with excitement etc.).

    "By that stage Sevilla were down to 10 men and Jorge Sampaoli, their manager, had been sent to the stands as a breathless encounter started to spiral out of control."

  3. 3
    Not breathing; dead or apparently so.
  4. 4
    Having no wind; still, calm or airless.
  5. 5
    Having a somewhat hysterical tone, using over-emotive language.

    "In breathless prose that risks making Dr Pachauri, who will be 70 this year, a laughing stock among the serious, high-minded scientists,"

Adjective
  1. 1
    appearing dead; not breathing or having no perceptible pulse wordnet
  2. 2
    not breathing or able to breathe except with difficulty wordnet
  3. 3
    tending to cause suspension of regular breathing wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
suffocatingablazeabruptafireagapeaghast

Example

More examples

"I ran for the bus and was already breathless."

Etymology

From breath + -less.

Related phrases

out of breath

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.