breathtaking

English

Etymology

breath +‎ taking

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɛθˌteɪ.kɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

breathtaking (comparative more breathtaking, superlative most breathtaking)

1. stunningly beautiful; amazing

   He went to the Grand Canyon and spent a week taking in the breathtaking scenery all around him.

2. Very surprising or shocking; to such a degree as to cause astonishment.

   breathtaking stupidity or rudeness

   • 2019 December 18, Nigel Harris, “180 years of tragedy and progress”, in Rail, page 62:

     The network was established with breathtaking speed in the 1840s, when more than 250,000 navvies were furiously building our railways.

Derived terms

• breathtakingly

Translations

stunningly beautiful

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 驚險／惊险 (zh) (jīngxiǎn), 惊险 (zh) (jīngxiǎn)

• Czech: úchvatný, dechberoucí
• Dutch: adembenemend (nl)
• Finnish: henkeäsalpaava
• French: époustouflant (fr) m, à couper le souffle (fr)
• German: atemberaubend (de)
• Hebrew: עוצר-נשימה m (otzer-neshima), עוצרת-נשימה f (otzeret-neshima)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: lélegzetelállító (hu)
• Italian: mozzafiato (it)
• Japanese: 息をのむような (iki o nomu yō na), 息をのむほど (iki o nomu hodo)
• Portuguese: de tirar o fôlego (pt)
• Russian: захва́тывающий (ru) (zaxvátyvajuščij), потряса́ющий (ru) (potrjasájuščij)
• Serbo-Croatian: koji uzima dah m
• Spanish: impresionante (es), emocionante (es), asombroso (es), fascinador (es), fascinante (es)
• Turkish: nefes kesici (tr)

very surprising or shocking

• Finnish: henkeäsalpaava, sanoinkuvaamaton (fi)
• French: époustouflant (fr) m
• German: atemberaubend (de)
• Hungarian: lélegzetelállító (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: de tirar o fôlego (pt)
• Russian: умопомрачи́тельный (ru) (umopomračítelʹnyj), потряса́ющий (ru) (potrjasájuščij)
• Swedish: hisnande