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Glite Dictionary
air-breathing

air-breathing

1 4.4
An animal or machine that takes oxygen from the air, not from water
  • adjective
  • /ɛrˈbrɛðɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : aerobio
  • In air-breathing vertebrates, net set duration should play a large role in mortality for obvious reasons; if the net set duration exceeds maximum dive time, the captured animal will die.
  • air-breathing engine

Examples

  • Humans are classified as air-breathing animals because we obtain oxygen directly from the atmosphere.

  • Thankfully for us and the other air-breathing creatures on it, Earth has an atmosphere.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Greater oxygen demand during this period means that the amount of time an air-breathing animal can live while entangled below the surface could be less than its standard dive duration.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Sea otters, air-breathing mammals living precariously in the ocean waves, tie themselves to giant kelp and sleep half a brain at a time.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • An open-cycle, pulse-detonation wave engine is an air-breathing, intermittent combustion jet engine that uses gas dynamics instead of turbomachinery to compress incoming air.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Most air-breathing mammals such as elephants and lions depend on lungs to extract oxygen from the air.

  • The air-breathing amphibians like frogs can live both in water and on land.

Synonyms

aerobic
vsair-breathing
  • Specialized
4 4.8

Needing oxygen to live or stay active

derives oxygen specifically from air rather than from dissolved oxygen
aerophilous
vsair-breathing
  • Specialized
9.9

Needing air or oxygen to live

derives oxygen specifically from air rather than from other media

Surface Forms

air-breathing positive

Morphology

air-breathing = air + breathing (transparent) = air + breathe + ing

The compound clearly combines 'air' + 'breathing' to indicate deriving oxygen from air; the meaning is directly inferable.

Etymology

Air-breathing comes from the two simple words air and breathing, and it literally means 'taking oxygen from the air'. That's why we use it for animals or machines that get their oxygen from air instead of water.