Other forms: exhaled, exhaling, exhales
To exhale is to push air out of your lungs. Exhale slowly, inhale and exhale, exhale through the nose.
It is the formal counterpart of breathe out and belongs to medicine, yoga and singing instruction. The pattern inhale, hold, exhale is the basis of most breathing exercises. Figuratively, to exhale means to relax after tension: everybody exhaled when the letter arrived. Note exhalation, the noun; and that in normal breathing exhaling is passive — the lungs recoil — which is why forcing it is a technique rather than a reflex.
1verbexhaleTo push air out of your lungs.
“Breathe in through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth.”
synonyms: breathe out
exhale is a breathing out.
Also accepted in games: breathe out
Latin exhalare is ex-, out, plus halare, to breathe. Inhale, exhale and halitosis all come from halare, which is why bad breath is named in Latin rather than in English.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂enh₁-
Latin
exhalo
Middle French
exhaler
English, today
exhale
Built from
From Middle French exhaler, from Latin exhalo, from ex (“out”) + halo (“to breathe”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA