Standard Lemma guide

exhalation

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌɛkshəˈleɪ̯ʃən/
  • [ˌɛkshəˈleɪ̯ʃən] ~ [ˌɛkshəˈleɪ̯ʃn̩]
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: EH2 K S HH AH0 L EY1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act or process of exhaling; breathing out

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • short exhalations of breath

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: efflation, sigh

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

That which is exhaled, or which rises in the form of vapor, fume, or steam

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • exhalations from the earth or flowers
  • 1894, Ivan Dexter, Talmud: A Strange Narrative of Central Australia, published in serial form in Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser (SA), Chapter II, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600641.txt For a week the party watched the flood, and each day it receded to a considerable extent. A thick deposit of mud was left behind, but though the sun shone out warmly no offensive exhalations arose.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A bright phenomenon; a meteor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the act of expelling air from the lungs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: expiration, breathing out

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: breath

Narrower terms: puffing, huffing, snorting, blow, puff, wind

5

noun

Meaning 5

exhaled breath

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: halitus

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: breath

Narrower terms: halitosis

History

Etymology

From Latin exhālātiō, from exhālō (“to breathe out, to exhale”), from hālō (“to breathe”). Equivalent to exhale + -ation.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: زَفِير (zafīr) — act or process of exhaling
  • Assamese: নিশাহ লোৱা (nixah lüa) — act or process of exhaling
  • Bulgarian: издишване (izdišvane) — act or process of exhaling
  • Catalan: exhalació — act or process of exhaling
  • Dutch: uitademing — act or process of exhaling
  • Esperanto: elspiro — act or process of exhaling
  • Finnish: uloshengitys — act or process of exhaling
  • Galician: exhalación — act or process of exhaling
  • German: Ausatmen — act or process of exhaling
  • German: Ausschnaufen — act or process of exhaling
  • German: Ausatmung — act or process of exhaling
  • Irish: asanálú — act or process of exhaling
  • Latin: exhālātiō — act or process of exhaling
  • Latin: efflātiō — act or process of exhaling
  • Polish: wydech — act or process of exhaling
  • Spanish: exhalación — act or process of exhaling
  • Spanish: espiración — act or process of exhaling
  • Telugu: నిశ్వాసము (niśvāsamu) — act or process of exhaling
  • Tocharian B: satāṣlñe — act or process of exhaling
  • Ukrainian: видиха́ння (vydyxánnja) — act or process of exhaling
  • Ukrainian: видих (vydyx) — act or process of exhaling
  • Assamese: নিশাহ (nixah) — that which is exhaled
  • Bulgarian: дихание (dihanie) — that which is exhaled
  • Bulgarian: дъх (dǎh) — that which is exhaled
  • Catalan: exhalació — that which is exhaled
  • Galician: exhalación — that which is exhaled
  • Spanish: exhalación — that which is exhaled