Meaning & use
breathalized
Last updated
“breathalized” is a form of “breathalyze”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive
Tested someone's breath with a device to find out how much alcohol they had drunk.
Grammar: Usually passive: the driver is the person tested, not the person doing the test.
Patterns
- be breathalyzed by someone
- be breathalyzed at the roadside
- get breathalyzed
The police breathalyzed every driver at the checkpoint.
She was breathalyzed after the accident and found to be over the limit.
Drivers who are breathalyzed at the roadside may later be asked to take a blood test.
verbtransitivetechnical
Used a device to measure the amount of alcohol in someone's breath.
Grammar: The object is the person being tested, not the device: they breathalyzed the driver.
Patterns
- breathalyze someone
- breathalyze a driver
Officers breathalyzed him twice because the first reading seemed too high.
The clinic breathalyzed each patient before the appointment.
Word forms
| third person singular | breathalyzes |
|---|---|
| past tense | breathalyzed |
| past participle | breathalyzed |
| -ing form | breathalyzing |
Common combinations
- be breathalyzed at the roadside
- He was breathalyzed at the roadside and told to wait in his car.
- be breathalyzed by police
- She was breathalyzed by police after failing to stop.
- get breathalyzed
- If you get breathalyzed and fail, you could lose your license.
- breathalyze a driver
- Officers may breathalyze a driver who smells of alcohol.
- be breathalyzed after an accident
- Anyone involved in a serious crash is breathalyzed after an accident.
Synonyms and how they differ
- breath-test
- The more neutral everyday term in British English; breathalyze is the verb form tied to the brand name.
- test
- A general word that needs extra information: test someone for alcohol.
Word family
- breathalyzer noun
- The device used to measure alcohol on someone's breath.
- breathalyzable adjective
- Rare; describes a situation or person that can be breathalyzed.
Commonly confused: breathalized or breathalyser?
breathalized vs breathalyser
British spelling of the device; the verb is usually breathalyze in American English and breathalyse in British English.
Practice
Choose the best sentence.
Choose one answer.
The officer does the test and the driver is the person tested, so the driver is the object: breathalyzed the driver. Option 2 confuses the device with the person, option 3 reverses the roles, and option 4 uses a passive structure with an object, which is not grammatical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “breathalized”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.