different between sigh vs suspire

English

Etymology

From Middle English sihen, from Old English s?can. (The OE infinitive would have given ME forms with /t?/ or /k/, which are both attested, so the /h/ form is probably a back-formation from the preterite sihte.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophones: sie, sai, psi, xi, scye, Si, Sy, Cy

Verb

sigh (third-person singular simple present sighs, present participle sighing, simple past and past participle sighed)

1. (intransitive) 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.

2. (intransitive) To lament; to grieve.

   • He sighed deeply in his spirit.

3. (intransitive, transitive) To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
   • 1695, Matthew Prior, An ode presented to the king, on His Majesty's arrival in Holland, after the Queen's death

     Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.

4. (intransitive) To experience an emotion associated with sighing.

5. (intransitive) To make a sound like sighing.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Death of the Old Year

     The winter winds are wearily sighing.

6. (transitive) To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
7. (transitive) To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
   • 1763, John Hoole (translator), Jerusalem Delivered (by Torquato Tasso

     The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.

Synonyms

• (all): sithe (obsolete)

Translations

Noun

sigh (plural sighs)

1. A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.
   • 1913, Eleanor Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter 7:

     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. Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lament.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person who is bored.

Derived terms

• yawn-sigh

Translations

Interjection

sigh

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.

Translations

Anagrams

• Gish, gish

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French suspirer (Modern soupirer), from Latin susp?r?re, present active infinitive of susp?r?. Cognate with Spanish suspirar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??spa??(?)/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)

Verb

suspire (third-person singular simple present suspires, present participle suspiring, simple past and past participle suspired)

1. (literary) To breathe.

   • Fireflies that suspire / In short, soft lapses of transported flame.

2. (literary) To exhale.
3. (literary) To sigh.
   • 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

     Where the White Hand Of Moses on the Bough/Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

Synonyms

• (to breathe): see Thesaurus:breathe

Related terms

• suspiral
• suspiration
• suspirious

Noun

suspire (plural suspires)

1. (obsolete) A long, deep breath; a sigh.

Anagrams

• pussier, rises up, uprises

Portuguese

Verb

suspire

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of suspirar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of suspirar
3. first-person singular imperative of suspirar
4. third-person singular imperative of suspirar

Spanish

Verb

suspire

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of suspirar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of suspirar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of suspirar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of suspirar.