respire

American  

[ri-spahyuhr] / rɪˈspaɪər /

verb (used without object)

respired, respiring

1. to inhale and exhale air for the purpose of maintaining life; breathe.

2. to breathe freely again, after anxiety, trouble, etc.

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verb (used with object)

respired, respiring

1. to breathe; inhale and exhale.

2. to exhale.

respire British  

/ rɪˈspaɪə /

verb

1. to inhale and exhale (air); breathe

2. (intr) to undergo the process of respiration

3. literary to breathe again in a relaxed or easy manner, as after stress or exertion

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Other Word Forms

• prerespire verb (used with object)
• unrespired adjective

Etymology

Origin of respire

1375–1425; late Middle English respiren < Latin respīrāre, equivalent to re- re- + spīrāre to breathe; spirit

Example Sentences

"These associations may help explain why some organic molecules remain protected in soils while others are more vulnerable to being broken down and respired by microbes."

From Science Daily

As oxygen from the environment combines with the sugars in patats, it gets respired from the roots as carbon dioxide and water.

From Salon

Tiny pores on a leaf’s underside are arranged to take in carbon dioxide and respire water, allowing the plant to transform sunlight into energy.

From Seattle Times

That carbon feeds hordes of bacteria and fungi, which build some of it into more microbes while respiring the rest into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

From New York Times

Such assurance marked “Rainphase,” a 2015 essay by New’s countrywoman Salina Fisher, evoking the wet weather of Wellington, with slow-shifting orchestral hues interspersed with plucked, tapped precipitation and scraped and respired gusts of wind.

From Washington Post