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Meaning & use

breathless with excitement

adjective·Everyday

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UK/ˌbreθləs wɪð ɪkˈsaɪtmənt/
US/ˌbreθləs wɪð ɪkˈsaɪtmənt/

Meanings

  1. adjectivefixed phrase

    so thrilled about something that you can hardly breathe or speak normally.

    Grammar: Used after linking verbs such as be, seem, feel, or look: The children were breathless with excitement.

    Patterns

    • be breathless with excitement
    • sound breathless with excitement
    • leave someone breathless with excitement

    She came back from the audition breathless with excitement, talking so fast I could barely follow her.

    The whole crowd was breathless with excitement as the lights went down and the music started.

    He was breathless with excitement on the phone, telling me he had won the scholarship.

  2. adjectivefixed phrase

    showing intense eager feeling in the way someone speaks, moves, or looks.

    Grammar: Often describes a voice, a laugh, or a look: a voice breathless with excitement.

    Patterns

    • a voice breathless with excitement
    • a laugh breathless with excitement

    Her voice was breathless with excitement when she described the goal.

    There was a laugh breathless with excitement in the corridor outside the exam room.

Common combinations

breathless with excitement
The kids ran in, breathless with excitement, waving their prizes.
be breathless with excitement
I was breathless with excitement when I opened the envelope.
sound breathless with excitement
You sound breathless with excitement — what happened?
leave someone breathless with excitement
The final scene left the audience breathless with excitement.
a voice breathless with excitement
He answered in a voice breathless with excitement.

Synonyms and how they differ

thrilled
Use thrilled when you simply mean very pleased; it does not suggest any difficulty breathing.
excited
Excited is the general word and is much weaker; breathless with excitement shows the feeling is strong enough to affect your body.
on edge
On edge means nervous and tense, not happily thrilled, so it fits a different situation.

Opposites

calmunmoved

Word family

breathlessly adverb
in a way that shows strong eager feeling, often while speaking quickly
breathlessness noun
the state of being unable to breathe easily
excited adjective
feeling happy and eager about something
excitement noun
a strong feeling of eagerness and happy energy

Commonly confused: breathless with excitement or out of breath? breathless with excitement or breathtaking?

breathless with excitement vs out of breath

Out of breath means you are breathing hard because of exercise or effort, not because of a strong feeling.

breathless with excitement vs breathtaking

Breathtaking describes something amazingly beautiful or impressive, such as a view; it is not used about a person's feelings.

Practice

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