Meaning & use
sighs in relief
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Meanings
phraseintransitive
Breathes out slowly and audibly because worry or tension has just gone away.
Grammar: The subject is the person who feels better; the phrase needs no object, but you can add a reason with 'when' or 'after'.
Patterns
- someone sighs in relief
- sigh in relief when something happens
- sigh in relief after something
She sighs in relief when the doctor says the test results are normal.
He sighs in relief as the plane finally touches the ground.
Every time the phone rings and it is not bad news, my mother sighs in relief.
phrasefixed phraseinformal
A written stage direction or caption showing that a character lets out a breath of relief.
Grammar: Used in scripts, comics and social-media captions, often in the third person present; it describes an action rather than making a statement about the real world.
Patterns
- [character] sighs in relief
- *sighs in relief*
In the script, Maria sighs in relief and drops the letter on the table.
The caption under the picture simply reads: sighs in relief.
Common combinations
- breathe a sigh of relief
- We all breathed a sigh of relief when the missing dog came home.
- sigh heavily
- She sighed heavily and put down the heavy box.
- in relief
- He laughed in relief when he saw he had passed.
- a sigh of relief
- A loud sigh of relief went around the room.
- sigh with relief
- The firefighters sighed with relief once everyone was outside.
Synonyms and how they differ
- exhale
- This is the plain, often medical word for breathing out; it says nothing about feeling better, so use it when the relief is not the point.
- breathe out
- A neutral everyday phrase for pushing air out of your lungs; it does not carry the emotional meaning that 'sigh in relief' does.
Opposites
Word family
- sigh verb
- To breathe out slowly and noisily, often because you are tired, bored or relieved.
- sigh noun
- A single long, audible breath, as in 'a sigh of relief'.
- relieved adjective
- Feeling happy and calm because a worry has gone away.
- relief noun
- The good feeling you get when something worrying stops or turns out well.
Commonly confused: sighs in relief or sighs in disbelief? sighs in relief or signs?
sighs in relief vs sighs in disbelief
'In disbelief' means you cannot believe what has happened, so the emotion is shock rather than comfort; the physical action looks similar but the feeling is different.
sighs in relief vs signs
'Sighs' is pronounced like 'size' and means breathing out; 'signs' rhymes with 'lines' and means notices, marks or signals.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Sighs in relief' needs a person as its subject and no object, and it can be followed by a 'when' clause giving the reason. Option 2 wrongly gives it an object, option 3 makes the news do the sighing, and option 4 uses 'to' where a clause or nothing is needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sighs in relief”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.