exhale
Americanverb (used without object)
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exhales,
present (3rd person singular)
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exhaled,
past participle, past
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exhaling
present participle
-
to emit breath or vapor; breathe out.
-
to pass off as vapor; pass off as an effluence.
verb (used with object)
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exhales,
present (3rd person singular)
-
exhaled,
past participle, past
-
exhaling
present participle
-
to breathe out; emit (air, vapor, sound, etc.).
to exhale a sigh.
-
to give off as vapor.
The engine exhaled steam.
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to draw out as a vapor or effluence; evaporate.
verb
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to expel (breath, tobacco smoke, etc) from the lungs; breathe out
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to give off (air, vapour, fumes, etc) or (of air, vapour, etc) to be given off; emanate
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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exhalesimple
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exhalessimple
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have exhaledperfect
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has exhaledperfect
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am exhalingprogressive
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are exhalingprogressive
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is exhalingprogressive
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have been exhalingperfect progressive
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has been exhalingperfect progressive
Past
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exhaledsimple
-
had exhaledperfect
-
was exhalingprogressive
-
were exhalingprogressive
-
had been exhalingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exhale
1350–1400; Middle English exalen < Latin exhālāre, equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + hālāre to breathe
Explanation
When you breathe, you inhale and exhale. In other words, you breathe in and out. When you breathe out, you exhale. If you exhale on a cold winter day, your breath looks like smoke in the frigid air. Yoga classes, with their emphasis on breathing, involve a lot of inhaling and exhaling. When you exhale, your lungs push air out, reducing the carbon dioxide in your body and making room for you to inhale oxygen. The Latin root exhalare combines ex, "out," and halare, "breathe."
Vocabulary lists containing exhale
Power Prefix: ex-
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The Landry News
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Flying to the Moon
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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.
See Examples For:
This combination of measurements allowed the researchers to test whether extending the exhale did more than simply lower heart rate.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
She says the last step of box breathing, where you hold after you exhale, is what causes the greatest change physiologically.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
They lure mosquitoes with carbon dioxide—all vertebrates release the gas with each exhale, so to mosquitoes, it usually signals a meal.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
After hugging your relieved family, you’d check your brokerage statement and exhale, figuring that at least nothing had happened to the stock or bond markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
I exhale, head up, shoulders back, projecting confidence.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"Cong phew!" exhales the Sun after "Hero Harry" comes "to the rescue".
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
When it’s over, Parillo, whose nom de guerre in the competition is Velvet Milkman, exhales.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Her husband Yitzhak, tense throughout, finally exhales, then explains that the couple will wait a week before choosing a name.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
When you whisk that nutty, toffee-adjacent warmth into the mix, especially alongside fruit and a streak of citrus zest, the entire batter exhales.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
He puffs out his cheeks, then exhales slowly, rolling away from me.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
A similar quarantine design had been used in earlier research, along with specialized testing of exhaled breath developed by Milton and his colleagues.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 11, 2026
The technology pulls the driver's exhaled breath into sensors located in the driver's side door or in the dashboard and steering column, as the driver breathes normally.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
Scientists flew drones equipped with special kit through the exhaled droplets, or "blows", made when the giants come up to breathe through their blowholes.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
Patients with asthma, a comorbid disease that frequently occurs along with atopic dermatitis, showed a median 56% reduction in fractional exhaled nitric oxide, a measure of airway inflammation.
From Barron's ● Dec. 8, 2025
He lost his concentration and noticed that as he exhaled, he could see his own breath.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
As the vessel neared the island—and Rhodes lost her ball cap in the wind—an app on the laptop she cradled lit up with digital WhaleSpotter images of whales exhaling, called “blows.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
By late afternoon, most test-takers walk out of school gates, exhaling with relief and embracing the family members waiting outside.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2025
“I pulled almost an all-nighter last night, so he’s been keeping us up,” he said, exhaling a light chuckle.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2025
“He’ll probably start,” Roberts said, exhaling after a wild night.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2024
Half a dozen locomotives stood in the trainyard exhaling steam into the already-yellow sky.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
