sigh
verbnouninterjectioncommon in dialogue
- //saɪ//
To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.
verb
- 1
To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.
When she saw it wasn't damaged, she sighed with relief.
He sighed. It was going to be a long night.
He sighed over the lost opportunity.
A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed. ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’ […] ‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’
- 2
To lament; to grieve.
He sighed deeply in his spirit.
- 3
To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.
The lassie had grace given her to refuse, but with a woeful heart, and Heriotside rode off in black discontent, leaving poor Ailie to sigh her love. He came back the next day and the next, but aye he got the same answer.
In Lisbon, Queen Luisa, who had sighed so long for a French marriage, declared that an angel from heaven could not have brought better news.
- 4
To make a sound like sighing.
The wind sighed in the trees.
And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.
The winter winds are wearily sighing.
- 5
To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
She sighed a sigh that was nearly a groan.
sigh a note and sing a note
She sighed her relief when she found her missing toddler.
Never man sighed truer breath.
- 6
To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
"I guess I have no choice," she sighed.
She sighed her frustrations.
They […] sighed forth proverbs.
The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.
Etymology
From Middle English sighen (“to sigh”), back-formation from sighte, past tense form of siken, from Old English sīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *sīkan, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- (“to pour out”).
noun
- 1
A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.
To Pollyanna the air was all the more stifling after that cool breath of the out of doors; but she did not complain. She only drew a long quivering sigh.
- 2
figurativea manifestation of grief; a lament.
- 3
slangA person who is bored.
Etymology
From Middle English sighe (“sigh”), from sighen (“to sigh”) (see ).
interjection
- 1
An expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like, often used in casual written contexts.
Sigh, I'm so bored at work today.
Forms
- plural
- sighs
- past tense
- sighed
- past participle
- sighed
- present participle
- sighing
- third person singular
- sighs
sigh · To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or…
sighing · Accompanied by or uttered with a sigh.sight · The ability to see.sighted · Having vision, not blind.