breathtaking

adjective

breath·​tak·​ing ˈbreth-ˌtā-kiŋ 

1

: causing one to breathe rapidly or with difficulty : making one out of breath

a breathtaking pain in her side

2

a

: exciting, thrilling

a breathtaking race

b

: very great : astonishing

his breathtaking ignorance

breathtakingly

ˈbreth-ˌtā-kiŋ-lē 

adverb

Synonyms of breathtaking

• exciting
• thrilling
• interesting
• intriguing
• inspiring

Examples of breathtaking in a Sentence

The train raced past with breathtaking speed.

They gave a breathtaking performance.

The view of the mountains was breathtaking.

a scene of breathtaking beauty

The scope of the error is breathtaking.

Recent Examples on the Web

But the landscapes were breathtaking. — Doug Gollan, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026

The breathtaking tiara features 19 diamond lover’s knot arches from which teardrop pearls dangle. — Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 26 June 2026

This laptop features 16GB of memory for multitasking without any lag, a cutting-edge Intel i9 processor to handle power-intensive applications, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics card that makes games like Skyrim and Witcher look breathtaking. — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 25 June 2026

As Mullen offensive coordinator Sed Bonner explained, the Hudl film shows a player with a remarkable first two steps and breathtaking power. — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 25 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1840, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for breathtaking

• awaking
• backbreaking
• bookmaking
• brickmaking
• caretaking
• dressmaking
• filmmaking
• forsaking
• glassmaking
• groundbreaking
• haymaking
• heartbreaking

Kids Definition

breathtaking

adjective

breath·​tak·​ing ˈbreth-ˌtā-kiŋ 

1

: making one out of breath

breathtaking speed

2

: exciting, thrilling

breathtaking beauty

breathtakingly

-kiŋ-lē 

adverb