Meaning of breathiness | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The state or quality of being breathy.
   uncountable
2. The result or product of being breathy.
   uncountable

Examples

“The smooth, even surfaces of Mr. Glass’s music expose his weaknesses as a pianist, but the faults added a kind of human breathiness to the piano’s embellished tread (reminiscent of Satie’s “Gymnopédies”) in the concluding piece, “The Orchard.” Ms. Sutter and her borrowed cello sang a little raucously over it, like Carly Simon at the end of the night.”

“If you dared, and if you had had any luck doing Princess Leia (Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope), you might even hazard Jessica Lange ’s tearful vanilla-rose breathiness: I really love you, Dorothy, but I can’t love you.”

“Here standard acoustic instruments are played in ways that suggest electronic sound: violins whir and buzz, woodwinds produce a toneless breathiness and a gentle tapping evokes a heartbeat.”

CEFR level