as in to gasp
to breathe hard, quickly, or with difficulty he was so nervous he began hyperventilating, and the extra oxygen made him dizzy

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hyperventilate People ran pell-mell outside, sped away in cars with no clear destination, went to church, or just phoned the police or radio station to hyperventilate. Nicolas Rapold, airmail.news, 23 Nov. 2024 Joey and Jesse hyperventilate at the sight of her. Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 6 Nov. 2024 Wall Street has been hyperventilating over Nvidia and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Howard Yu, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2024 At the same time, too, this is the same man who grew up on pastoral Oregon farmland, pushing himself on pre-dawn lifts, who nearly hyperventilated in the shower before one freshman-year playoff game at Crescent Valley. Luca Evans, The Denver Post, 16 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for hyperventilate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hyperventilate
Verb
  • His comments had some in the audience gasping at times, given that the BBC’s role and its relationships with other players tend to be at the center of attention in the U.K. TV world.
    Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 3 June 2025
  • Abel, who aced his audition on May 18 with six-shutout innings against the Pirates in a spot start, will get slotted into the rotation while Johnson could get high-leverage innings for a depleted bullpen that’s gasping after losing Jose Alvarado to an 80-game PED suspension.
    Anthony Stitt, Forbes.com, 2 June 2025
Verb
  • Plus, the 100-percent, double-weave cotton feels light on the skin, giving even your best pair of comfy pajama pants a run for its money.
    Kristin Braswell, Travel + Leisure, 28 May 2025
  • Timothée Chalamet Timothée Chalamet wears the Visa CashApp Racing Bulls team kit shirt and Chrome Hearts pants with Timberland Boots.
    Kanika Talwar, Footwear News, 6 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Hyperventilate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hyperventilate. Accessed 7 Jun. 2025.

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