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
For both air breathers and water breathers, many chemicals in crude oil target the heart and respiratory function, the immune system, the sensory system and the central nervous system.
—
Asuka Koda, CNN Money, 17 Apr. 2026
Mouth breathers tend to carry their head forward to open the airway, a subtle shift that can become its own habitual pattern.
—Allison Palmer, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2026
Lopez or Joseph-Day would be a rotational run-stuffing nose tackle who could allow Walker to get some breathers or line up elsewhere.
—Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2026
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
Asuka Koda, CNN Money, 17 Apr. 2026
Mouth breathers tend to carry their head forward to open the airway, a subtle shift that can become its own habitual pattern.
—Allison Palmer, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2026
Lopez or Joseph-Day would be a rotational run-stuffing nose tackle who could allow Walker to get some breathers or line up elsewhere.
—Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for breathers
Noun
-
Business major Andrea Lui found the chatbot’s voice to be surprisingly human, but the conversation felt choppy with odd pauses.—
Jocelyn Gecker,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Business major Andrea Lui found the chatbot’s voice to be surprisingly human, but the conversation felt choppy with odd pauses.—
Jocelyn Gecker,
Fortune,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Not all parts of the country seem to have the same pattern, although the data points to school breaks as relative lulls.—
Meg Wingerter,
Denver Post,
18 Apr. 2026
-
Acting in a movie involves a lot of waiting around, too—as the crew repositions cameras and adjusts the lighting, among other things—and those lulls provided me with plenty of time to feel queasy with anxiety.—
Naomi Fry,
New Yorker,
14 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Cherrish Martinez saw her 32-year-old boyfriend take his last breaths just outside their backyard door in Commerce City.—
Gabriela Vidal,
CBS News,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Its menthol resin scents the forest, encouraging deep breaths in time with the Atlantic surf on Itapororoca beach, forever within earshot.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Without any workplace oversight, the baristas did the obvious, padding their breaks by ten, fifteen, twenty minutes.—
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh,
New Yorker,
26 Apr. 2026
-
The breaks kept coming for Orlando.—
Chris Hays,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Breathers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/breathers. Accessed 30 Apr. 2026.
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