respire

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb breathe easily again, as after exertion or anxiety
  2. verb undergo the biomedical and metabolic processes of respiration by taking up oxygen and producing carbon monoxide
  3. verb draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs

Etymology

From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).

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