sigh
Americanverb (used without object)
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sighs,
present (3rd person singular)
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sighed,
past participle, past
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sighing
present participle
-
to let out one's breath audibly, as from sorrow, weariness, or relief.
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to yearn or long; pine.
-
to make a sound suggesting a sigh.
sighing wind.
verb (used with object)
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sighs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sighed,
past participle, past
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sighing
present participle
-
to express or utter with a sigh.
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to lament with sighing.
noun
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sighs
plural
verb
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(intr) to draw in and exhale audibly a deep breath as an expression of weariness, despair, relief, etc
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(intr) to make a sound resembling this
trees sighing in the wind
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to yearn, long, or pine
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(tr) to utter or express with sighing
noun
Usage
What does sigh mean? Sigh, an audible exhalation, conveys a broad range of emotions from sadness and disappointment to sarcasm and relief. People frequently write it out online to express such sentiments.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sighsimple
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sighssimple
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have sighedperfect
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has sighedperfect
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am sighingprogressive
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are sighingprogressive
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is sighingprogressive
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have been sighingperfect progressive
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has been sighingperfect progressive
Past
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sighedsimple
-
had sighedperfect
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was sighingprogressive
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were sighingprogressive
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had been sighingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sigh
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English verb sighen, back formation from sihte “sighed,” past tense of Middle English siken, sichen “to sigh, moan,” Old English sīcan “to sigh, groan, long for”; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
The sound that you make when you exhale loudly to show frustration, boredom, or relief is called a sigh. No matter how much you sigh during your family's annual car trip to the Grand Canyon, your dad won't drive any faster. Something that sounds like a human sigh is also called a sigh. The breeze might sigh in the still night air, or a screen door might sigh closed. The word sigh comes from the Old English word of the same meaning, sican, which was probably imitative, echoing the sound of a sigh.
Vocabulary lists containing sigh
"The Road Not Taken"
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"We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
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"The House on Mango Street" and "The Road Not Taken"
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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:
She’s a perfectionist at heart, something I remember with a sigh when I help her hang a picture or center a vase of flowers on her table.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
That sound you hear is the sigh coming from those disappointed at the consumer-price index increase of a mere 0.1% in July.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
“It’s not maximalist enough,” she says with a sigh.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
It could have been worse for Mayo, who breathed a sigh of relief when Sean O'Brien shot wide after receiving a Sean O'Shea fist pass and turning sharply to outfox his marker Bob Tuohy.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
It was a small sigh stuffed with lots of feelings.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
“User sighs at 9:15 p.m. AI is listening from a smart home device and logs it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
This train "has not received the kind of attention that it really deserves in terms of urgency from elected leaders," sighs Schank.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
As cops breathed sighs of relief that he was an architect, those living in Massapequa "were astonished," Livoti said.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
In the film’s slightly alternate reality, Charli sighs and goes along with what everyone else is telling her to do, simply because she’s never found herself in this position before.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2026
“Things change,” Julia says, and sighs really loud.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
Putting out his cigarette before starting the evening service, he sighed: "I think we'll be without water for at least another two months."
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
After a short flight, a day at Venice Beach and the fastest glow-up ever for a mom of three, my date opened his hands, sighed and canceled the glorious evening I’d planned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
"Even changing to play lower and deeper and compact space didn't really help us in our efforts," the Newcastle head coach sighed.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
“When you get old, they push you aside,” he sighed.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2026
Anastasia sighed and frowned and scrunched her face up.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
But they couldn’t do that, one doctor said apologetically, sighing deeply.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
Another seemingly innocuous cartoon shows a man at his desk sighing, "My train of thought has derailed."
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2025
“I’ve been laid off before,” Dave told me, sighing as he acknowledged that periods of looking for work are part of having a career.
From Slate ● May 20, 2025
Throughout the hearing, Ohta repeatedly signaled skepticism about the case, often sighing at state prosecutors or rolling his eyes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024
He looked at me worriedly before sighing in resignation.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
