suspiration

1 9.9

A long soft breath you let out when you feel tired or sad

noun
/sʌsˈpɪəreɪʃən/

Archaic

: suspiro

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good Mother, nor customary suits of solemn black, nor windy suspiration of forced breath.

Examples

Betty sighed, a long, slow suspiration.

Fiction book (1992)
After a long day, he let out a deep suspiration to relieve the stress.
She took a moment to reflect and released a quiet suspiration of contentment.
As the news sank in, his suspiration revealed his disappointment.

Synonyms

sigh

vssuspiration

149 1.0

A long soft breath you make when you feel tired, sad, or relieved

is any audible breath that may not be long but often shows feeling

exhalation

vssuspiration

6 4.3

Breathing out air from the lungs or the air that you breathe out

is an audible outbreath that often expresses feeling rather than neutral air flow

expiration

vssuspiration

Specialized

1 4.8

To breathe out air from the lungs

is an audible outbreath used to show emotion rather than a mere process

How Audible

to sob

141 1.0

suspiration

Archaic

1 9.9

exhalation

6 4.3

breath

76 1.0

Surface Forms

suspiration singular

suspirations plural

Morphology

suspiration = suspire (semi-transparent) = suspir + ation

Formed by standard nominalization of the verb 'suspire' with -ation, but the verb 'suspire' is rare/archaic and may be unfamiliar to many learners.

Etymology

Suspiration comes from the Latin word suspirare, based on the root spir- meaning 'to breathe'. This same root is in words like inspire and respire, so a suspiration is simply a breath out with a sound, a sigh.