air-breathing
adjective
air-breath·ing
ˈer-ˌbrē-t͟hiŋ 
: of, employing, or being an engine that requires air for combustion
Examples of air-breathing in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
One obvious problem is that an air-breathing engine cannot handle air coming in at Mach 5+.
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New Atlas, 6 Apr. 2025
Tropical air-breathing snails lined its shores and shelled creatures lay just below the surface.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 5 Mar. 2025
The 2022 vaccine mandate decision, another 6-3 masterpiece, turned on sophistry that workplace rules only covered hazards found solely in the workplace (but somehow excluding, say, forced air-breathing with infected employees), and ignored the deeper reality that vaccines save lives.
—The Editors, Scientific American, 10 July 2024
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New Atlas, 6 Apr. 2025
Tropical air-breathing snails lined its shores and shelled creatures lay just below the surface.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 5 Mar. 2025
The 2022 vaccine mandate decision, another 6-3 masterpiece, turned on sophistry that workplace rules only covered hazards found solely in the workplace (but somehow excluding, say, forced air-breathing with infected employees), and ignored the deeper reality that vaccines save lives.
—The Editors, Scientific American, 10 July 2024
Cite this Entry
“Air-breathing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air-breathing. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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