I. sigh 1 /saɪ/ BrE AmE verb [intransitive]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: sican ]
1 . to breathe in and out making a long sound, especially because you are bored, disappointed, tired etc:
‘Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now,’ she sighed.
sigh heavily/deeply
Frankie stared out of the window and sighed deeply.
sigh with
He sighed with despair at the thought of all the opportunities he had missed.
2 . literary if the wind sighs, it makes a long sound like someone sighing:
The wind sighed in the trees.
3 . sigh for something to be sad because you are thinking about a pleasant time in the past:
Emilia sighed for her lost youth.
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THESAURUS
▪ breathe [intransitive and transitive] to take air into your lungs and send it out again:
Mary knew he was asleep because he was breathing deeply.
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He breathed the clear spring air.
▪ sigh to breathe out slowly and make a noise that shows you are disappointed, tired, ↑ relieved etc:
She just sighed and shook her head.
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‘Never mind,’ he sighed. ‘I’m sure there’ll be other opportunities.’
▪ pant to breathe quickly and noisily through your mouth, because you have been using a lot of effort:
They were panting by the time they got to the finish line.
▪ gasp to breathe very quickly and deeply and with difficulty:
Her eyes were wide, and she was gasping for breath.
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‘Do you think you can walk?’ ‘I’ll try to,’ he gasped.
▪ snore to breathe noisily while you are sleeping:
I couldn’t sleep because my husband was snoring.
▪ wheeze to breathe with difficulty, making a noise in your throat and chest, because you are ill:
His asthma was making him wheeze.
▪ be out of breath to be unable to breathe easily, especially because you have been running or doing other exercise:
I was out of breath by the time we reached the top of the hill.
▪ be short of breath to be unable to breathe easily, especially because you are unhealthy:
Because she was so overweight, she was often short of breath.
II. sigh 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
an act or sound of sighing
sigh of
She let out a sigh of impatience.
give/let out/heave a sigh
Laura shrugged, and gave a heavy sigh.
We all breathed a sigh of relief when we heard they were safe.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ give/let out a sigh
She let out a sigh of disappointment.
▪ heave a sigh (=to sigh loudly and deeply)
Uncle Walter heaved a sigh and slumped back in his chair.
▪ breathe a sigh of relief
When he had left, Miranda breathed a sigh of relief.
■ adjectives
▪ a deep sigh
Jimmy gave a deep sigh and shrugged.
▪ a long sigh
With a long sigh, she tried to shake off her sombre mood.
▪ a huge/great/big sigh
She heaved a great sigh.
▪ a heavy sigh (=a big sad sigh)
Finally, she turned away from the mirror with a heavy sigh.
▪ a little/small sigh
Quinn let out a little sigh and closed the book.
▪ a weary sigh
With a weary sigh, she rubbed a hand over her eyes.
▪ an audible sigh (=a sigh that can be heard)
Tonight she breathed an audible sigh of relief as the show ended.
▪ a collective sigh (=a sigh that many people give at the same time)
She heard a collective sigh of relief as she announced her acceptance.
■ phrases
▪ a sigh of relief/exasperation/satisfaction etc
At last the girl stopped eating and sat back with a sigh of satisfaction.