View synonyms for bated

bated

[ bey-tid ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

moderated or restrained:
Their solemn faces, their fidgeting, and the bated whispers in which they spoke all told of nerves strained to the breaking point.

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Origin of bated¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; bate ¹( def ) + -ed ²( def ) for the adjective; bate ¹( def ) + -ed ¹( def ) for the verb

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with bated breath, with breath drawn in or held because of anticipation or suspense:
We watched with bated breath as the runners approached the finish line.

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Throughout Christmas eve and day, the world is monitoring with bated breath.

Hawking took 10 minutes to build up the answer on his computer and the audience waited with bated breath.

We all may have waited with bated breath for Wiig's big, first post-Bridesmaids, post-SNL star vehicle.

All was ready, and as they started a thousand eyes followed them, and with bated breath their comrades watched them as they rode.

Up early and bated at Petersfield in the room which the King lay in lately at his being there.

She listened now with bated breath, thinking that by some unconscious cry she might have aroused the others.

Up early, and bated at Petersfield, in the room which the King lay in lately at his being there.

Then, drawing near the wall in the direction from which the noise came, they applied their ears with bated breath.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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