Like a breath of fresh air meaning

difficult or impossible to find or catch

Synonyms:

difficult

impossible

trying

awkward

intolerable

thorny

critical

testing

delicate

intractable

be too much for someone

chronic

fiendish

fraught

grey

hard to take​/​swallow

heavy

hot

hypersensitive

inaccessible

insoluble

insuperable

insupportable

insurmountable

messy

murderous

not for the faint-hearted

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Breath of Fresh Air Meaning

Definition: Something new and exciting.

When you go outside on a pleasant day, you may feel thrilled to breathe the air and enjoy the freshness of nature. Likewise, when something is a breath of fresh air, you receive the same excited feeling from being around it as you do when you step outside into a fresh breeze.

When something is a breath of fresh air, you enjoy it greatly. It is new, thrilling, and invigorating to you.

This idiom comes from two idioms widely used before the 1800s. The two idioms from where is originates are breath of heaven and breath of spring, both of which mean the same thing.

Like a breath of fresh air meaning
Those two phrases have not been widely used since mid-1800s, when a breath of fresh air first came into use. Sometimes, breath of spring is still used today.

Examples of Breath of Fresh Air

There are two main uses of this phrase.

First, people often use this phrase to describe their joy when they are in a great mood. For example, someone might say,

  • The student teacher is a breath of fresh air. He has tons of new and good ideas we can try!

Like a breath of fresh air meaning
Second, people use this phrase to describe the need for something new when in a bad situation. Someone in a stifling conversation might say,

  • I need to leave to get a breath of fresh air.

In this example, the person is saying that the conversation is stale and unpleasant, and they need to find something new to do.

Someone might also say,

  • We need a breath of fresh air in this chorus.

This use shows that the chorus is missing something and would benefit from a person with a new and unique voice.

More Examples

  • Jason Benetti is a breath of fresh air in the TV booth. –Chicago Sun-Times
  • The movie doesn’t shy away from its straightforwardness, telling it like it is: an exhilarating, inspiring breath of fresh air with its 80s’ score and underdog triumphs. –LA Times

Summary

Something that is a breath of fresh air is new, fresh, and invigorating.

Contents

  • 1 Breath of Fresh Air Meaning
  • 2 Origin of Breath of Fresh Air
  • 3 Examples of Breath of Fresh Air
  • 4 More Examples
  • 5 Summary

  • Top Definitions
  • Quiz
  • Related Content
  • Examples

New and refreshing, as in His arrival was like a breath of fresh air. This term transfers the idea of fresh air to a new approach or welcome arrival, and has largely replaced both the earlier breath of heaven and breath of spring, although the latter is still heard occasionally. [Mid-1800s]

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

Words nearby breath of fresh air

breather, breath group, breathing, breathing space, breathless, breath of fresh air, breathtaking, breath test, breathy, B. Rec., breccia

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use breath of fresh air in a sentence

  • And Air Force assessors are the first to say such imaging never tells the whole story.

  • Sprawled on chaise lounges with their knees high in the air and their legs spread wide.

  • Indeed, Lion Air, with 45 percent of the domestic Indonesian airline market, has swallowed the Fernandes formula whole.

  • There is a larger reason, beyond the airlines themselves, why Lion Air and 61 other Indonesian airlines are on this black list.

  • The Pentagon said Faal served in the Air Force for seven years, during which time he became a U.S. citizen.

  • In nine days he returned, bringing us the thanks of congress, and fresh orders.

  • Bells were pealing and tolling in all directions, and the air was filled with the sound of distant shouts and cries.

  • It is to be remembered, however, that a few of these bacteria may reach the sputum from the upper air-passages.

  • We had now approached closely to the foot of the mountain-ranges, and their lofty summits were high above us in mid-air.

  • He stood, with the air of a hero, both arms extended towards the amazed pair of lovers.

Is breath of fresh air a compliment?

COMMON If you describe someone or something as a breath of fresh air, you mean that they are pleasantly different from what you are used to.

What is another way to say breath of fresh air?

What is another word for breath of fresh air?.

What does a breath of fresh air feel like?

Likewise, when something is a breath of fresh air, you receive the same excited feeling from being around it as you do when you step outside into a fresh breeze. When something is a breath of fresh air, you enjoy it greatly. It is new, thrilling, and invigorating to you.

When guys say your a breath of fresh air?

When a man describes you as a breath of fresh air it means that your conversation is not typical like he hears everyday it's more of a conversation that he's greatly enjoying almost as if going from a stuffy room to the great outdoors where you can take in clean fresh air.