Not sure if this is the right place to post this... Could someone please help me with words to describe breathing with? I keep coming up with the same ones.. like heavy breathing or shallow breathing.... Thank you so much in advance!
What emotion/description are you going for? Jagged, ragged, labored, sharp, panting, gasping, deep, slow, fast, clogged, rattley, dry, wet.
Ooh, I love "hissing." Good one. You can also go for descriptions that aren't just one word. "It sounded like someone went at her throat with a cheese grater," etc.
Those are good, but try to find a new way to word "gasping for air." Just find a new way to describe the same thing, so it's not cliche or anything.
Wow I've never even heard of this one! Amazing how many words/expressions there are for a simple thing such as breathing! Makes me all giddy! This is exactly why I love writing so much!
Yeah, panting is good, but it gets used a lot, so make it more descriptive than just "she panted." The word's fine, but add more stuff with it, you know?
I found a list - some of these may have already been mentioned from previous posts. Hope it is helpful. • Agonized gasps • air was forced from her lungs • breath rush in and out • breathing hurt her lungs • breathless urgent gasps • caught in her throat • choppy • deeply • deep, shuddering • desperate rhythm • emerging in gasps • fast and hard • forced the breath from her lungs • fought for more oxygen • gasping • gasping at his touch • grew short • halted • hard • harsh and uneven • harsh rush of his breath • he fought for his breath • heavily • heaving like a bellows • hissed • hot and moist • in fits and starts • in little gasps • irregular • labored • more rapidly • panting • pulled in a lungful of air • punctuated gasps • quick and shallow • quickening • ragged • ragged gasps • ragged sigh • rapid • shallow • shallow and fast • shallow pants • shivering inhale • short little spurts • short, harsh gasps • short, heated breaths • short, sharp gasps • shuddering in breaths of gasping completion • sucked air through her teeth • sucked in a quick breath • sucked in a sharp breath, • sucked in a startled breath • sucking in lungfuls of air as spasms of delight rocketed through her • sucking in panting breath • unsteady • warm and erratic • whispering shallowly from her lungs.
Wow, this thread is quite the resource now. And oh dear, also a terrible hindrance, because now I'm going to be striving not to use any of those. I know we have patterns of words to use because they're effective, but aaargh I've been taught so much to avoid other people's phrases and clichés.
I hear you. The hardest thing about writing for me is trying not to sound cliché, but I also don't want to sacrifice using more common phrases at the risk of sounding awkward and pretentious. Seriously, would anyone ever say " air was forced from her lungs?" Perhaps, if someone was performing the Heimlich maneuver on you!
Well true, you shouldn't always go for the cliché ones, but (even though there are many) there is still a numbered of ways to say something. It's impossible to use something that no one has ever used before. I think it's better to change expressions rather than use the smae (unique) ones. I mean like in this case, not every breath is the same, it would be rather weird if your discription of someone's breathing after s** would be the same than after climbing a stairs for instance. So I prefer to change the discriptions so the suit the situation best. And then these kind of lists come in quite handy.
So far, all here are synonyms and descriptions. How about some new words - as in cartoons like "pow!"and "arghh!" - that sound like breathing or, for example, that sound one has when he comes up for air after having swam underwater a pool's length? "Whooohh!" "Hoahhhh!"
@Thelazypotato - This is me with my forum moderator hat on. That's a very useful list you've given the person who started this thread. However, we have a policy here to always attribute anything you quote from another source. In this case, Kathy Steineman's website/blog : https://kathysteinemann.com/Musings/breath/ Sorry, I was in a huge hurry to do something in my other life when I posted this warning. I did want to include the section of our Rules that covers it :
