😮‍💨 Breathing with effort 😲 Very surprising 😯 A quick breath

gaspy

8.1

Breathing quickly and loudly because you have little air

adjective
/ˈɡæspi/

: jadeante

The child emerged from the water, her face pale and gaspy as she struggled to catch her breath.

Examples

Breck's breathing was instantly louder, gaspy.

Fiction book (1992)
Silence lay between snatches of Burnside's gaspy breathing.

Fiction book (1996)
After running for several minutes, he collapsed on the ground, his breath becoming gaspy and shallow.
During the intense workout, I found myself feeling gaspy and needing to pause to regain my composure.

Synonyms

panting

vsgaspy

203 2.6

Breathing quickly and heavily after exercise or when very excited

is similar but often features louder gasping and may follow sudden shock

winded

vsgaspy

21 3.5

Breathing hard and having trouble after exercise

also involves noisy gasping but can occur from shock or low air too

breathless

vsgaspy

16 3.3

Not able to breathe easily after physical effort or strong emotion

is the same difficulty but often emphasizes noisy, sudden onset from effort

heaving

vsgaspy

2 4.6

Heavy, loud breathing after hard exercise or strong feeling

is alike but usually includes sharper gasping sounds and sudden causes

pursy

vsgaspy

Archaic

1 9.9

Breathing with difficulty and feeling short of breath after little effort, often from being overweight

is similar but more often sudden and tied to exertion, shock, or low air

wheezy

vsgaspy

1 6.5

Making a high, whistling sound when breathing because the throat or chest is partly blocked

describes noisy gasping that is not limited to a wheeze sound

dyspneic

vsgaspy

Specialized

9.9

Having trouble breathing or feeling short of breath

is more likely to produce noisy gasping after exertion or shock

dyspneal

vsgaspy

Specialized

9.9

Having difficulty breathing and feeling short of breath

tends to be noisy and shows after effort, shock, or low air

dyspnoeal

vsgaspy

9.9

Having difficulty breathing

is a noisier, more visible breathing problem tied to exertion or shock

short-winded

vsgaspy

7.1

Breathing is difficult and you get out of breath after activity

adds that breathing may be noisy and come from shock or lack of air

wheezing

vsgaspy

6.1

A high whistling or rough sound that you make when breathing is hard

focuses on noisy, gasping breaths rather than a specific whistling sound

How Breathless

breathless

16 3.3

gaspy

8.1

short-winded

7.1

Surface Forms

gaspy positive

Morphology

gaspy = gasp (transparent) = gasp + y

Formed by the productive adjectival suffix '-y' on 'gasp', meaning 'characterized by or full of gasps', which is directly inferable from the base.

Etymology

Gaspy comes from the verb gasp, which means a 'short, sudden breath', plus the ending -y that means 'full of' or 'having'. So someone who is gaspy is 'full of' gasps — breathing with difficulty or making gasping sounds.