suspire
Americanverb (used without object)
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to sigh.
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to breathe.
verb (used with object)
verb
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to sigh or utter with a sigh; yearn
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(intr) to breathe; respire
Other Word Forms
- suspiration noun
Etymology
Origin of suspire
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin suspīrāre, equivalent to su- su- + spīrāre to breathe
Explanation
When you suspire, you breathe deeply or sigh. You might suspire melodramatically as you listen to your best friend complain about her allowance for the thousandth time. The verb suspire is considered obsolete today—you'll probably only encounter it when you're reading poetry. In Robert Frost's poem "Sitting by a Bush in Broad Sunlight," he wrote: "And from that one intake of fire / All creatures still warmly suspire." Not only is it a literary way to say "breathe," but it also rhymes nicely with "fire." The Latin root is spirare, "to breathe."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We only live, only suspire Consumed by either fire or fire.
From Time Magazine Archive
The elements we feel and see shift and drift and suspire And we therein behind the screen, with glimmering brains that tire.
From Perpetual Light : a memorial by Benét, William Rose
Each of the principals, seconded by his particular waiter, after carefully taking his opponent's range and bearings, will suspire and hit him in the eye.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, February 25, 1914 by Various
Marlow's tale was a powerful one: I could hear Mrs. Marlow suspire faintly, ever so faintly—the troubled, small, soft sigh of a brave woman indefinably stricken.
From Plum Pudding Of Divers Ingredients, Discreetly Blended & Seasoned by Morley, Christopher
"But times are bad!" he would suspire in moments of depression.
From The Valley of the Kings by Pickthall, Marmaduke William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
