Meaning of hyperventilate | Babel Free

Definitions

To breathe quickly and deeply, especially at an abnormally rapid rate.

intransitive

Equivalents

Examples

“When I tried it, I hyperventilated.”

“Sometimes her prose hyperventilates ("Once, years ago, his and N.'s love for each other had glowed like phosphorescent fire on the surfaces of their bodies"), and she has a weakness for epiphanies ("There was a man, no longer young, though not yet old, who, traveling alone in northern Europe, began to feel that his soul was being drained slowly, almost secretly from him, drop by drop").”

“Sometimes on the highway I had to pull over to hyperventilate and sob.”

“Even some middle-of-the-road economic commentators have been hyperventilating, saying that she’s essentially calling for price controls, which is odd, because she didn’t say anything like that.”

CEFR level