breathe easy

Idioms  

1. Also,. Relax, feel relieved from anxiety, stress, or tension. For example, Now that exams are over with, I can breathe easy, or Whenever I'm back in the mountains, I can breathe freely again. This idiom originally (late 1500s) was put as breathe again, implying that one had stopped breathing (or held one's breath) while feeling anxious or nervous. Shakespeare had it in King John (4:2): “Now I breathe again aloft the flood.” The variant dates from the first half of the 1800s.

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Example Sentences

Anyone concerned the event might not adequately cover its poultry bases can also breathe easy: “blackened chicken, packaged chicken, boneless skinless chicken breasts and chicken legs” have all been noted.

From Salon • Jul. 2, 2026

Of course, in the NFL, you can never breathe easy.

From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026

That doesn’t mean consumers—or the Federal Reserve—can breathe easy in 2026.

From Barron's • Dec. 22, 2025

Well we can all breathe easy that Gooch will be at Valhalla.

From BBC • May 7, 2024

Letting herself breathe easy now, Pecola covered her head with the quilt.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

Related Words

• calm
• lie down
• loosen up
• recline
• sit back
• soften
• unwind