Phrase guide

shortness of breath

noun · 2 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.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A difficulty in breathing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: SOB, breathlessness, dyspnea, dyspnoea

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a dyspneic condition

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: SOB, breathlessness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: dyspnea, dyspnoea

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

71 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: հեւոց (hewocʻ) — dyspnea
  • Armenian: շնչարգելություն (šnčʻargelutʻyun) — dyspnea
  • Azerbaijani: təngnəfəslik — dyspnea
  • Basque: arnasestu — dyspnea
  • Basque: itolarri — dyspnea
  • Bulgarian: затруднено дишане (zatrudneno dišane) — dyspnea
  • Catalan: dispnea — dyspnea
  • Chinese Mandarin: 呼吸困難 /呼吸困难 (hūxī kùnnán) — dyspnea
  • Czech: dušnost — dyspnea
  • Danish: åndenød — dyspnea
  • Danish: vejrtrækningsbesvær — dyspnea
  • Dhivehi: ނޭވާ ކުރުވުން (nēvā kuruvun̊) — dyspnea
  • Dutch: benauwdheid — dyspnea
  • Dutch: ademnood — dyspnea
  • Estonian: hingeldus — dyspnea
  • Finnish: hengenahdistus — dyspnea
  • Finnish: hengitysvaikeus — dyspnea
  • French: souffle court — dyspnea
  • French: dyspnée — dyspnea
  • Galician: dispnea — dyspnea
  • Georgian: დისპნოე (disṗnoe) — dyspnea
  • German: Kurzatmigkeit — dyspnea
  • German: Atemnot — dyspnea
  • German: Atemlosigkeit — dyspnea
  • German: Dyspnoe — dyspnea
  • Greek: δύσπνοια (dýspnoia) — dyspnea
  • Hungarian: légszomj — dyspnea
  • Hungarian: nehézlégzés — dyspnea
  • Italian: fame d'aria — dyspnea
  • Italian: dispnea — dyspnea
  • Japanese: 呼吸困難 (kokyū konnan) — dyspnea
  • Japanese: 息切れ (ikigire) — dyspnea
  • Kannada: ಕಟ್ಟುಸಿರು (kaṭṭusiru) — dyspnea
  • Kazakh: ентікпе (entıkpe) — dyspnea
  • Korean: 호흡곤란 (hoheupgollan) — dyspnea
  • Kyrgyz: демигүү (demigüü) — dyspnea
  • Latin: dyspnoea — dyspnea
  • Latvian: aizdusa — dyspnea
  • Macedonian: оте́жнато ди́шење (otéžnato díšenje) — dyspnea
  • Malay: lelah — dyspnea
  • Malay: sesak nafas — dyspnea
  • Norwegian Bokmål: åndenød — dyspnea
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: andenød — dyspnea
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: andenaud — dyspnea
  • Persian: تنگی نفس (tangi-ye nafas) — dyspnea
  • Polish: duszność — dyspnea
  • Portuguese: dispneia — dyspnea
  • Portuguese: abafação — dyspnea
  • Quechua: sasa samay — dyspnea
  • Russian: оды́шка (odýška) — dyspnea
  • Russian: диспно́э (dispnóe) — dyspnea
  • Russian: затруднённое дыха́ние (zatrudnjónnoje dyxánije) — dyspnea
  • Serbo-Croatian: dispnea — dyspnea
  • Serbo-Croatian: kratak dah — dyspnea
  • Serbo-Croatian: zaduha — dyspnea
  • Serbo-Croatian: dispneja — dyspnea
  • Spanish: disnea — dyspnea
  • Spanish: falta de aire — dyspnea
  • Swedish: dyspné — dyspnea
  • Swedish: andnöd — dyspnea
  • Swedish: andfåddhet — dyspnea
  • Tagalog: paghihirap sa paghinga — dyspnea
  • Telugu: ఆయాసం (āyāsaṁ) — dyspnea
  • Turkish: nefes darlığı — dyspnea
  • Ukrainian: зади́шка (zadýška) — dyspnea
  • Ukrainian: диспно́е (dyspnóe) — dyspnea
  • Ukrainian: утру́днене ди́хання (utrúdnene dýxannja) — dyspnea
  • Walloon: tanfla — dyspnea
  • Walloon: pupa — dyspnea
  • Walloon: coûtresse d' alinne — dyspnea
  • Welsh: diffyg anadl — dyspnea