sighed
verb
Form of sigh , past tense of sigh.
Simple meaning
To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sydIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsaɪd
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.
verb
past tense of sigh
To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.
past tense of sigh
To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
past tense of sigh
To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.
Used this way, sighed is a reasonably familiar word carrying real weight of difficulty or hurt. It lands hard, so it overstates anything mild. This sense is about measurement, so it is used where accuracy is the point.
- Emotional tone
- Strongly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Very strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Strongly negative / painful
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
- Academic writing
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Sighed is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sighed
- “He sighed over the lost opportunity.”verb
- “She sighed a sigh that was nearly a groan.”verb
- “"I guess I have no choice," she sighed.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
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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.