\ ˈ(h)wēz 
\
\wheezed; wheezing
Definition of wheeze
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to breathe with difficulty usually with a whistling sound
2 : to make a sound resembling that of wheezing the bellows wheezed
wheeze
nounDefinition of wheeze (Entry 2 of 2)
1 : a sound of wheezing
2a : an often repeated and widely known joke used especially by entertainers
b : a trite saying or proverb
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Examples of wheeze in a Sentence
Verb
He was up all night hacking and wheezing.
The car's motor wheezed and stalled. Noun
Between gasps and wheezes, he tried to explain what had happened.
the wheeze of an engine
We can count on him for a good wheeze.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Verb But all of us are likely to feel the effects of a sick and wheezing economy.
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Jarvis Deberry, cleveland, "If all of Ohio’s in this coronavirus crisis together, then let the recovery efforts show it," 18 Apr. 2020 By March 29, though, Massamore was wheezing and having trouble holding a conversation.
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Mandy Mclaren, The Courier-Journal, "Kentucky woman too sick for nursing home, not sick enough for hospital dies of COVID-19," 9 Apr. 2020 No social media existed at the time, but people were frantically texting to each other about a new type of acute influenza that was making people cough and wheeze.
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Ilaria Maria Sala, Quartz, "Hong Kong’s coronavirus panic buying isn’t hysteria, it’s unresolved trauma," 12 Feb. 2020 The room was small and dimly lit, with pocked floors, bare walls, and a fold-out table littered with empty juice bottles; a small pink fan wheezed in the corner.
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Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, "Does Asylum Have a Future at the Southern Border?," 3 Oct. 2019 When her daughter started wheezing, Sainz stopped taking her to the park.
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Erin Stone, azcentral, "Winter air really is worse in south, west Phoenix. Here's why," 31 Dec. 2019 There are photos of the president grinning out from the middle of some ruddy array of wheezing burghers or gouty lawmen, always shot from far enough away that everyone’s shoes are visible.
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David Roth, The New Republic, "A Unified Theory of the Trumps’ Creepy Aesthetic," 19 Dec. 2019 That may help explain the desperation to get ahead, manifested by their factcheckUK wheeze.
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The Economist, "The Tories’ dodgy “factcheckUK” tweets are a taste of what’s to come," 21 Nov. 2019 Instead, it’s gone the other way, and the Huskies are wheezing to the finish line at 6-5 going into the Apple Cup.
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Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, "Misery Index: Miami suffers unquestioned worst loss in school history; Oregon melts down," 24 Nov. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun However, there were no significant associations between vaping nicotine and wheeze.
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Kristen Rogers, CNN, "Young adults who vape cannabis are more likely to experience cough, bronchitis and wheezing, study finds," 24 Dec. 2020 The snow leopards all began exhibiting minor respiratory symptoms, including a dry cough and wheeze, within the last two weeks.
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Ben Tobin, USA TODAY, "Snow leopard in Kentucky zoo becomes first ever to test positive for SARS-CoV-2," 12 Dec. 2020 Sixty people cough and wheeze inside the clinic’s tiny waiting room.
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Rebecca Curtis, The New Yorker, "Hansa and Gretyl and Piece of Shit," 9 Nov. 2020 Sometimes, Columba Sainz can't sleep, her ears pricked for the sound of a wheeze or a cough from her young daughter's room.
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AZCentral.com, "Rivers, clean air, imperiled species: How Trump's environmental rollbacks affect Arizona," 29 Oct. 2020 The policemen’s conversation kept coming through, as did the drunken shouts, the squeak of shoes on the floor, the wheeze of an automatic door, the slap of a hand on the button that opened it, the knock of a bed against it.
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Timothy Snyder, The New York Review of Books, "What Ails America," 3 Sep. 2020 Upon announcement, Buddy’s milestone case appeared fairly open and shut, but the Mahoneys’ experience over the two and a half months between their dog’s first wheeze and his death was one of confusion and heartbreak.
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Natasha Daly, National Geographic, "Exclusive: Buddy, first dog to test positive for COVID-19 in the U.S., has died," 29 July 2020 Various wheezes have been proposed to get around this, including off-balance-sheet vehicles linked to public bodies like universities or housing associations that can tap markets without violating the debt brake.
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The Economist, "Are the black zero’s days numbered? Why Germany sticks to strict budget rules despite a slowdown," 14 Nov. 2019 Yet all this pageantry was the wheeze of a dying world.
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The Economist, "Writing wrongs An intimate chronicle of Sephardic Jewish history," 2 Jan. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wheeze.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for wheeze
wheeze
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of wheeze
(Entry 1 of 2)
: to breathe loudly and with difficulty
: to make a sound like a person who is breathing with difficulty
wheeze
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of wheeze (Entry 2 of 2)
: the sound made by a person who is having difficulty breathing or a similar sound : the sound of wheezing
British, informal : a clever idea or joke
See the full definition for wheeze in the English Language Learners Dictionary
wheeze
verb\ ˈhwēz , ˈwēz \
, ˈwēz \wheezed; wheezing
Kids Definition of wheeze
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to breathe with difficulty and usually with a whistling sound
2 : to make a whistling sound like someone having difficulty breathing
wheeze
nounKids Definition of wheeze (Entry 2 of 2)
: a whistling sound like that made by someone having difficulty breathing
wheeze
intransitive verb\ ˈhwēz , ˈwēz \
, ˈwēz \wheezed; wheezing
Medical Definition of wheeze
(Entry 1 of 2)
: to breathe with difficulty usually with a whistling sound
wheeze
nounMedical Definition of wheeze (Entry 2 of 2)
: a sibilant whistling sound caused by difficult or obstructed respiration
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Time Traveler for wheeze
The first known use of wheeze was in the 15th century
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