sigh
Americanverb (used without object)
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to let out one's breath audibly, as from sorrow, weariness, or relief.
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to yearn or long; pine.
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to make a sound suggesting a sigh.
sighing wind.
verb (used with object)
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to express or utter with a sigh.
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to lament with sighing.
noun
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
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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:
“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
At last, when Universal Studios began testing the ride this spring, Garner breathed a sigh of relief.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The executive order “brought a big sigh of relief to CEOs across the country,” said Bill Marler, a lawyer who represents victims of food-borne illnesses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Wow…” White breathed out a sigh of mixed relief and disbelief.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
“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
You want something that sits up in the spoon, not something that sighs into a puddle.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026
For years, Wall Street worried that the market’s gains were too concentrated in the Magnificent Seven big tech stocks, and there were sighs of relief whenever that rally broadened out.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
He stood in the dock wearing glasses and a two-toned grey sweatshirt and as he made his admissions, gasps and some sighs were heard in the court room.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
He sighs and sits on a bench just inside the door.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
"There's nothing we can do about it... We'll just have to put up with it for 10 days," he sighed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 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
The student body collectively sighed “Alas, this too,” but then mobbed the dorms anyway, cheering and hugging fearlessly with unmasked smiles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
“When you get old, they push you aside,” he sighed.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2026
Katherine sighed, blowing the air out in a way that ruffled the hair on her forehead.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
But they couldn’t do that, one doctor said apologetically, sighing deeply.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
The score is a tone poem for cascading piano, string quartet and sighing clarinet lines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2025
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
Silence threads through the house like a lace pulling tight, and then I finally hear the scraping of another chair and the sound of Lily sighing herself into place.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
