sigh

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /saɪ/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Homophones: sie, sai, psi, xi, scye, Si, Sy, Cy

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.

Translations
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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.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess‎:
      A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed.
         ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’ […] ‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’
    When she saw it wasn't damaged, she sighed with relief.
    He sighed. It was going to be a long night.
    He sighed over the lost opportunity.
  2. (intransitive) To lament; to grieve.
    • Bible, Mark viii. 12
      He sighed deeply in his spirit.
  3. (intransitive, transitive) To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
    • Prior
      Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.
  4. (intransitive) To experience an emotion associated with sighing.
    He silently sighed for his lost youth.
  5. (intransitive) To make a sound like sighing.
    • Coleridge
      And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.
    • Tennyson
      The winter winds are wearily sighing.
  6. (transitive) To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
    She sighed a sigh that was nearly a groan.
    sigh a note and sing a note
    • Shakespeare
      Never man sighed truer breath.
  7. (transitive) To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
    "I guess I have no choice," she sighed.
    She sighed her frustrations.
    • Shakespeare
      They […] sighed forth proverbs.
    • Hoole
      The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.

Synonyms

Translations
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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
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