breathless

Universal Words adjective 1 having difficulty in breathing; making it difficult for sb to breathe: He arrived breathless at the top of the stairs. * They maintained a breathless (= very fast) pace for half an hour. * The dance left her feeling breathless and weak. 2 ~ (with sth) (written) experiencing, or making sb experience, a strong emotional reaction: breathless with terror * the breathless excitement of seeing each other again 3 (written) with no air or wind: the breathless heat of a summer afternoon breathlessly adverb breathlessness noun [U]