sigh of relief

Meanings

1. 1phrasefixed phrase

   A long, soft breath out that shows you feel calm again after a worry or danger has passed.

   Grammar: Often follows breathe, heave or let out: she breathed a sigh of relief.

   Patterns

   • breathe a sigh of relief
   • heave a sigh of relief
   • let out a sigh of relief

   She let out a sigh of relief when she saw her keys on the table.

   The whole team breathed a sigh of relief after the final whistle.

   He gave a deep sigh of relief as the plane touched down.

2. 2phrasefixed phrasefigurative

   The feeling of comfort when a concern ends, even when nobody actually sighs.

   Grammar: Used figuratively: the town breathed a sigh of relief.

   Patterns

   • a collective sigh of relief
   • a sigh of relief for someone

   Commuters breathed a sigh of relief when the strike ended.

   The news brought a sigh of relief to farmers worried about the drought.

   There was a collective sigh of relief when the test results arrived.

Common combinations

breathe a sigh of relief

I breathed a sigh of relief when the email arrived.

heave a sigh of relief

He heaved a sigh of relief after the exam.

let out a sigh of relief

She let out a sigh of relief when the baby fell asleep.

collective sigh of relief

A collective sigh of relief ran through the office.

audible sigh of relief

There was an audible sigh of relief in the crowd.

Synonyms and how they differ

relief

Relief names the feeling itself, whereas sigh of relief pictures the visible or audible release of tension.

exhale

Exhale simply means breathing out and carries no emotional meaning unless the context adds it.

reprieve

Reprieve refers to the delay or cancellation of something bad, not to the person's emotional reaction.

Opposites

Word family

relieve verb

to make a worry or pain less

relieved adjective

feeling calm after worry ends

relief noun

the feeling when something worrying stops

sigh noun

a long breath out that expresses a feeling

Commonly confused: sigh of relief or sign of relief?

Practice

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