pant
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A quick breathing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pantIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpænt
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 quick breathing; a catching of the breath; a gasp: the panting of animals such as a dog with their tong hung out- as a form of thermoregulation.
figurative
Eager longing.
attributive
Of or relating to pants.
verb
ambitransitive
To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp.
intransitive
To long eagerly; to desire earnestly.
intransitive
Of the heart, to beat with unnatural violence or rapidity; to palpitate.
intransitive
To heave, as the breast.
intransitive
To sigh; to flutter; to languish.
intransitive
To bulge and shrink successively, of iron hulls, etc.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A quick breathing; a catching of the breath; a gasp: the panting of animals such as a dog with their tong hung out- as a form of thermoregulation.
Used this way, pant 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.
More ways to use pant
- “The runners reached the finish line, panting heavily.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Underpants worn by women.
Breathing heavily (as after exertion).
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Short underpants for women or children (usually used in the plural).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A home appliance in which trousers can be hung and the wrinkles pressed out.
A pair of pants and a matching jacket worn by women.
Communicate by hooting and panting, as of primates.
The leg of a pair of trousers.
Trousers ending above the knee.
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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.