• IPA: /saɪ/

sigh (sighs, present participle sighing; 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.

   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.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Mark 8:12 ↗:

     He sighed deeply in his spirit.

3. (intransitive, transitive) To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.

   • 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.

   • And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Death of the Old Year

     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

   • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene 5]:

     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.

   • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene 1]:

     They […] sighed forth proverbs.

   • The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.

• (all) sithe (obsolete)

• French: soupirer
• German: seufzen
• Italian: sospirare
• Portuguese: suspirar
• Russian: вздыха́ть
• Spanish: suspirar

• Russian: вздыха́ть

• Portuguese: suspirar
• Russian: вздыха́ть

• Portuguese: suspirar
• Russian: вздыха́ть

• Russian: вздыха́ть

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.

• French: soupir
• German: Seufzen, Seufzer
• Italian: sospiro, sbuffo
• Portuguese: suspiro
• Russian: вздох
• Spanish: suspiro

• Portuguese: suspiro
• Russian: вздох
• Spanish: suspiro

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.