respiratory

adjective

Simple meaning

Related to breathing and the organs that help air move in and out of the body.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

rehsperuhtawree

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US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹɛspɚətɔɹi

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

relational
Relating to respiration or the organs of respiration; breathing.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: (relational) Relating to respiration or the organs of respiration; breathing.

Used this way, respiratory 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: No strong connotation
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 respiratory

“Respiratory assistance.”adjective

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

respiratory tractrespiratory systemrespiratory distressrespiratory failurerespiratory raterespiratory diseaserespiratory infectionrespiratory center

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

respiratory alkalosisnounCompound term
Alkalosis resulting from increased gas exchange in the lungs (as in hyperventilation associated with extreme anxiety or aspirin intoxication or metabolic acidosis).
respiratory centernounCompound term
The center in the medulla oblongata and pons that integrates sensory information about the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood and determines the signals to be sent to the…
respiratory diseasenounCompound term
A disease affecting the respiratory system.
respiratory disordernounCompound term
A disease affecting the respiratory system.
respiratory distress syndromenounCompound term
An acute lung disease of the newborn (especially the premature newborn).
respiratory distress syndrome of the newbornnounCompound term
An acute lung disease of the newborn (especially the premature newborn).

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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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.