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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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.Breath of Fresh Air Meaning
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!
- 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
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.
Words related to breath of fresh air
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.