breathing space

Definition of breathing space

: some time in which to recover, get organized, or get going

— called also breathing room, breathing spell

Examples of breathing space in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The hood is under positive pressure so no air from the environment can enter my breathing space. — Troy Sutton, CNN, "This supersafe labs protects researchers as they race to develop a coronavirus vaccine," 22 June 2020 The Trump administration hopes a victory will give Vucic breathing space to address the tensions with Kosovo. — Patrick Kingsleyand Kenneth P. Vogel, BostonGlobe.com, "Pushing for Serbia-Kosovo peace deal, US roils allies," 20 June 2020 Britain got Brexit breathing space but no clarity on Monday when the European Union granted a three-month delay to the U.K.'s departure from the bloc, postponing it until Jan. 31. — Samuel Petrequin, chicagotribune.com, "European Union delays Brexit to Jan. 31 as Boris Johnson’s early election bid fails," 28 Oct. 2019 Unbeaten in 2019, Spain will be looking to extend their lead over Tuesday's opponents to ten points, whilst Sweden will want to give themselves breathing space over third placed Romania. — SI.com, "6 Must-Watch Games From Euro 2020 Qualifiers During the International Break," 10 Oct. 2019 Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra team up to save mankind from the deadliest threat of all -- a fire-breathing space monster. — Los Angeles Times, "Movies on TV for Oct. 6-12: ‘Throne of Blood’ and more," 4 Oct. 2019 Kazuki Himeno's try for Japan, converted by Tamura, gave the host breathing space again until Taefu finished off a clever move with six minutes remaining to put the pressure back on. — Paul Gittings, CNN, "Rugby World Cup: Bonus-point win keeps host Japan on course for quarterfinals," 5 Oct. 2019 Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a very contagious bacterial infection spread from person to person by coughing, sneezing, or even sharing breathing space. — Sabrina Adams, SELF, "I Treat Infants With Whooping Cough in the ICU—Of Course I’m Pro-Vaccine," 26 Aug. 2019 And the longish average maturity of its bonds, around seven years, gives it breathing space. — The Economist, "Italy’s political crisis is roiling financial markets once more," 31 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'breathing space.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Learn More about breathing space

Dictionary Entries near breathing space

breathing capacity

breathing space

breathing valve

Statistics for breathing space

Last Updated

1 Jul 2020

Cite this Entry

“Breathing space.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/breathing%20space. Accessed 16 Jul. 2020.

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