fighting/struggling for breath
idiom
: having a lot of difficulty breathing
He was fighting/struggling for breath.
Examples of fighting/struggling for breath in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In the emergency wards, the hennaed hands of mothers fanned the twig-like ribcages of babies struggling for breath, and other parents told of sleeping children killed in their beds when artillery shells crashed into their neighborhoods.
—
Hafiz Haroun, Washington Post, 19 July 2024
As Badr was washed, Habiba lay on a dirty pink mattress outside the building, struggling for breath.
—Kareem Fahim, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2023
If your kid is struggling for breath, call 911 immediately.
—Lisa Mulcahy, Good Housekeeping, 5 Nov. 2022
The awkward intrusion leaves Charlie struggling for breath.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Sep. 2022
During one of those trips to the emergency room, he was asked to sit in the waiting room, struggling for breath, while hospital registration officials reviewed his parents’ medical billing history.
—Daniela Altimari, courant.com, 28 Sep. 2021
There were also clips with better sourcing, such as the footage captured by Fang Bin, who did a short walk through a hospital ward to find a man struggling for breath as his father was dying before his eyes.
—Roxanne Khamsi, Wired, 20 Nov. 2020
In one scene, his character collapsed to the Martian ground, fighting for breath as his oxygen tank ran dry.
—Anthony Lan, The New Yorker, 16 July 2021
The Black community is constantly fighting for breath, justice, equality, dignity and humanity, Dinges said.
—Slone Terranella, Detroit Free Press, 22 Feb. 2021
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Hafiz Haroun, Washington Post, 19 July 2024
As Badr was washed, Habiba lay on a dirty pink mattress outside the building, struggling for breath.
—Kareem Fahim, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2023
If your kid is struggling for breath, call 911 immediately.
—Lisa Mulcahy, Good Housekeeping, 5 Nov. 2022
The awkward intrusion leaves Charlie struggling for breath.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Sep. 2022
During one of those trips to the emergency room, he was asked to sit in the waiting room, struggling for breath, while hospital registration officials reviewed his parents’ medical billing history.
—Daniela Altimari, courant.com, 28 Sep. 2021
There were also clips with better sourcing, such as the footage captured by Fang Bin, who did a short walk through a hospital ward to find a man struggling for breath as his father was dying before his eyes.
—Roxanne Khamsi, Wired, 20 Nov. 2020
In one scene, his character collapsed to the Martian ground, fighting for breath as his oxygen tank ran dry.
—Anthony Lan, The New Yorker, 16 July 2021
The Black community is constantly fighting for breath, justice, equality, dignity and humanity, Dinges said.
—Slone Terranella, Detroit Free Press, 22 Feb. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Fighting/struggling for breath.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fighting%2Fstruggling%20for%20breath. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.
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