Respiration

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Origin

Middle English respiracioun, from Latin respiratio, from respirare.

Noun

1. The process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing, breath.
2. An act of breathing; a breath.
• 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 76:Gowan snored, each respiration choking to a huddle fall, as though he would never breathe again.
3. Any similar process, in organisms that lack lungs, that exchanges gases with its environment.
4. The process by which cells obtain chemical energy by the consumption of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide.

Derived terms

• artificial respiration