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respire

res·pire

UK/ɹɪˈspʌɪə/ US/ɹɪˈspaɪɹ/ uncommon archaic obsolete

verb

1.
2.

undergo the biomedical and metabolic processes of respiration by taking up oxygen and producing carbon monoxide

3.

draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs

  • “I can breathe better when the air is clean”
  • “The patient is respiring”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.