breather
noun
Simple meaning
A short break.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
breetherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹiðɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A short break; a rest or respite.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A short break; a rest or respite.
Used this way, breather is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
A short respite.
An opportunity to rest or give thought to a situation.
A rest, pause, or respite.
A rest or pause.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The process of taking in and expelling air during breathing.
Draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Not breathing or able to breathe except with difficulty.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Air passage provided by a retractable device containing intake and exhaust pipes.
Take a short break from one's activities in order to relax.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “breather” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.