wheeze
Americanverb (used without object)
-
wheezes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wheezed,
past participle, past
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wheezing
present participle
-
to breathe with difficulty and with a whistling sound.
Asthma caused him to wheeze.
-
to make a sound resembling difficult breathing.
The old locomotive wheezed into the station.
noun
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wheezes
plural
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a wheezing breath or sound.
-
an old and frequently used joke, saying, story, etc.
verb
-
to breathe or utter (something) with a rasping or whistling sound
-
(intr) to make or move with a noise suggestive of wheezy breathing
noun
-
a husky, rasping, or whistling sound or breathing
-
slang a trick, idea, or plan (esp in the phrase good wheeze )
-
informal a hackneyed joke or anecdote
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wheezesimple
-
wheezessimple
-
have wheezedperfect
-
has wheezedperfect
-
am wheezingprogressive
-
are wheezingprogressive
-
is wheezingprogressive
-
have been wheezingperfect progressive
-
has been wheezingperfect progressive
Past
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wheezedsimple
-
had wheezedperfect
-
was wheezingprogressive
-
were wheezingprogressive
-
had been wheezingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wheeze
1425–75; late Middle English whese (v.), probably < Old Norse hvæsa to hiss
Explanation
To breathe in a gasping, strained way is to wheeze. You might not know you're allergic to cats until you walk into the house your friend shares with six felines and start to wheeze. A particular raspy, whistling kind of breathing characterizes a wheeze. You might wheeze because you've got a bad cold, or because your asthma is acting up after that half marathon you just ran. It can be scary to wheeze sometimes, because it feels like you're not getting quite as much air as you need with each breath. Wheeze shares a Scandinavian root with the Old Norse hvoesa, "to hiss."
Vocabulary lists containing wheeze
James and the Giant Peach
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Unit 1, Words to Know
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List 9
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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:
If this week shows anything, though, this wheeze, like all such wheezes, has finally sown the seeds of its own obsolescence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
He makes bleak comedies about strivers with shiv-like gags that make you wheeze in pain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
After 28 days, respiratory symptoms of cough, wheeze, breathlessness and sputum were found to be better with benralizumab.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
Alesya’s dog really does wheeze when it walks.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2024
He turns to look at me as I wheeze, a surprised expression on his face.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
Such wheezes aren’t the most salient feature of the screenplay, though.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
They communicate through grunts, bellows and wheezes, a form of vocalization that plays a crucial role in the dynamics of the group.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2024
Guitars flutter, an accordion wheezes and a singer unwinds the triumphant tale of Fernando Ochoa Jauregui, a Modesto-area builder of food trucks and trailers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2024
Whatever cunning wheezes No 10 conjures up, the hole the Conservatives need to climb out of is very deep.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2023
He wheezes when he speaks, like I remember.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
Shares in Asia were mostly lower on Monday, with Tokyo the only major regional market to advance, after Wall Street wheezed to more losses with its worst week in six months.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 24, 2023
But I’m the kind of person who trained for, and wheezed his way through, a cycling tour of Provence with his dad, but who almost never rode to work.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2023
At Detroit Country Day School, the football team wheezed its way up a steep slope known simply as “The Hill” on the backside of the leafy campus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2022
“I’ve never been that sick,” he wheezed through his thick metal door.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2022
So he sat down at the organ and wheezed the air into it.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
Breathing air with high levels of NO2 can irritate airways, cause coughing, wheezing or make it difficult to breathe and worsen diseases like asthma.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
"She is wheezing," Markos tells the nurse in the video, cradling the poorly chicken with a worried expression on his face.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
If inhaled at high levels, these fumes can aggravate a person’s lungs, causing coughing, wheezing and chest tightness.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
It’s like the quarterback and homecoming queen losing a popularity contest to a wheezing weirdo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
The panting ogress crawled and then scooted forward on her belly, wheezing and choking.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
