as in pauses
a momentary halt in an activity
took a breather from the seemingly endless task of sorting through years of stuff stored in the attic
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Recent Examples of breathers
Its one-take formula is made to break you — there are no breathers, the intensity simply keeps building to its apex.
—
Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2025
One is called the 'wonderful whimsy,' (with) fire breathers, jugglers, tarot card readers.
—Tony Peterson, CBS News, 10 Dec. 2025
While the games themselves won’t go away, one change may be the timing of them, especially the SEC’s late-season, collective breathers.
—Seth Emerson, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2025
Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2025
One is called the 'wonderful whimsy,' (with) fire breathers, jugglers, tarot card readers.
—Tony Peterson, CBS News, 10 Dec. 2025
While the games themselves won’t go away, one change may be the timing of them, especially the SEC’s late-season, collective breathers.
—Seth Emerson, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for breathers
Noun
-
These types of leaders rely on pauses to shift group dynamics from reaction to reflection.—
Cheryl Robinson,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
-
It was not specified how long the pauses would last.—
Alexx Altman-Devilbiss,
Baltimore Sun,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Every squad is going to go through lulls in the conference schedule, other than perhaps UCLA.—
Sabreena Merchant,
New York Times,
16 Jan. 2026
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The offense suffered some lulls in his absence, but second-year wide receiver Ryan Flournoy was able to pick up the production vacated by Lamb in the second half by finishing with 115 yards and one touchdown on nine receptions.—
Nick Harris,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
5 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Pair it with a calming playlist and deep breaths, and even a red-eye can feel restorative.—
Alesandra Dubin,
Travel + Leisure,
9 Jan. 2026
-
But images of those youthful frolics amid chirping children quickly slips behind me, muted by my puffing, labored breaths and the blanket of snow.—
Thomas Cangelosi,
Hartford Courant,
4 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Filling in and fixing scenes during post-production, including generating pick-up shots, continuity breaks, editing and other improvements when the cameras have stopped rolling.—
David Bloom,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Those days can be used for weather or other things like power outages, or watermain breaks.—
Terell Bailey,
CBS News,
23 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Breathers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/breathers. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.
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