respire

[ ri-spahyuhr ]

verb (used without object)

, re·spired, re·spir·ing.

1. to inhale and exhale air for the purpose of maintaining life; breathe.
2. to breathe freely again, after anxiety, trouble, etc.

verb (used with object)

, re·spired, re·spir·ing.

1. to breathe; inhale and exhale.
2. to exhale.

respire

/ rɪˈspaɪə /

verb

1. to inhale and exhale (air); breathe
2. intr to undergo the process of respiration
3. literary.
   to breathe again in a relaxed or easy manner, as after stress or exertion

Other Words From

• prere·spire verb (used with object) prerespired prerespiring
• unre·spired adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of respire¹

1375–1425; late Middle English respiren < Latin respīrāre, equivalent to re- re- + spīrāre to breathe; spirit

Word History and Origins

Origin of respire¹

C14: from Latin rēspīrāre to exhale, from re- + spīrāre to breathe; see spirit ¹

Example Sentences

As oxygen from the environment combines with the sugars in patats, it gets respired from the roots as carbon dioxide and water.

From Salon

Tiny pores on a leaf’s underside are arranged to take in carbon dioxide and respire water, allowing the plant to transform sunlight into energy.

From Seattle Times

That carbon feeds hordes of bacteria and fungi, which build some of it into more microbes while respiring the rest into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

From New York Times

Such assurance marked “Rainphase,” a 2015 essay by New’s countrywoman Salina Fisher, evoking the wet weather of Wellington, with slow-shifting orchestral hues interspersed with plucked, tapped precipitation and scraped and respired gusts of wind.

From Washington Post

“So our biosphere in the North is leakier than we thought because soils are remaining warm and respiring both carbon dioxide and methane.”

From Washington Post