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Glite Dictionary
to pant after

to pant after

6.1
Breathe with short, fast breaths after hard exercise or excitement
  • phrasal verb
  • /pænt ˈæftər/
translation icon : jadeo
  • She pants after running up the hill.

Examples

  • The runners began to pant after finishing the marathon.

  • He tends to pant after even a short climb up the stairs.

  • My dog would pant after playing fetch in the park.

  • Why do you pant after such difficult workouts?

  • After running for several blocks, he had to stop and pant after catching his breath.

  • The dog began to pant after playing fetch in the hot sun.

  • She started to pant after climbing the steep hill, feeling her heart race.

Synonyms

to pant
vsto pant after
95 1.6

To breathe quickly and loudly, often after exercise or excitement

is heavy rapid breathing after exertion or excitement without noting speech
to hyperventilate
vsto pant after
18 7.5

Breathe too quickly and deeply, often because you feel very scared

is normal heavy rapid breathing after exertion or excitement, not medically abnormal
to pant for air
vsto pant after
3.5

To breathe quickly and loudly after hard exercise

occurs after recent exertion or excitement rather than from lack of air

How Hard

to gasp
155 1.6
to pant after
6.1
to pant
95 1.6
to breathe
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

pant after infinitive
panted after past
panted after past participle
panting after present participle
pants after third person singular

Morphology

pant + after

The verb 'pant' (to breathe rapidly) combined with the temporal preposition 'after' (following) directly signals rapid breathing that occurs following exertion or excitement. This is a transparent, compositional meaning following common verb + temporal-preposition patterns and would be derivable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Pant after gives a simple picture: imagine a dog or a runner with its tongue out and chest moving fast right after hard work. The part pant shows the hard breathing and after shows it happens following the effort, so pant after means 'to breathe hard and quickly because you have just exercised or are excited'.