Meaning & use
eat, sleep, and breathe
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiominformal
to be completely devoted to something and spend nearly all your time on it
Grammar: Used with an object: He eats, sleeps, and breathes football. Often in the pattern 'eat, sleep, and breathe + noun.'
Patterns
- eat, sleep, and breathe something
- live and breathe something
She eats, sleeps, and breathes music; it's her whole life.
He eats, sleeps, and breathes his job, so he rarely takes a day off.
They eat, sleep, and breathe soccer, practicing every single day.
Common combinations
- eat, sleep, and breathe football
- The fans eat, sleep, and breathe football during the World Cup.
- eat, sleep, and breathe work
- Since the promotion, he eats, sleep, and breathes work.
- eat, sleep, and breathe a hobby
- She eats, sleeps, and breathes painting.
- eat, sleep, and breathe the business
- They eat, sleep, and breathe the family business.
Synonyms and how they differ
- live and breathe
- Live and breathe is a shorter idiom with the same meaning, often used in the pattern 'live and breathe something.'
- devote oneself to
- Devote oneself to is more formal and means to give all your time and energy to something; it doesn't have the same informal, emphatic tone.
Commonly confused: eat, sleep, and breathe or eat, sleep, and drink?
eat, sleep, and breathe vs eat, sleep, and drink
Eat, sleep, and drink is a less common variant but can be confused; it is not standard. The standard idiom uses 'breathe.'
Practice
Ever since he joined the band, he ______ music.
Choose one answer.
'Eats, sleeps, and breathes' is the fixed idiom meaning to be totally devoted to something. The other options are not standard idioms and do not convey the same meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “eat, sleep, and breathe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.