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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

respire.

To breathe in and out successively.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹɪˈspʌɪə/Received-Pronunciation/ɹɪˈspaɪɹ/General-American
  1. To breathe in and out successively.

    intransitive
  2. To breathe in and out successively. To recover one's breath or breathe easily following stress.

    intransitive
  3. To take up oxygen and produce carbon dioxide (as animals do), or vice versa (as plants do).

    intransitive
  4. To (inhale and) exhale; to breathe.

    transitive
  5. To recover hope, courage, or strength after a time of difficulty.

    archaic · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).

noun/ɹɪˈspʌɪə/Received-Pronunciation/ɹɪˈspaɪɹ/General-American
  1. Rest, respite.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.