Meanings
comparative more stertorously · superlative most stertorously
- With heavy breathing, as if snoring; in a stertorous manner.
The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that he had suffered some terrible injury.
1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC3 more examples
Mr Lumby said, "Oh well, now the doctor's here you don't want me', and lumbered off, glad to get back to bed. Rita said, "She's in here, doctor', and led the way to the foot of the stairs where Mrs Dibble lay breathing stertorously under the dim shop light, still an abhorrent spectacle to Sadie, who edged gingerly round her and escaped upstairs, having no compunction whatever for Mrs Dibble's injuries
1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 26He was a plump little man and we had been walking uphill at a pace—set by him—far too rapid for his short legs. He breathed stertorously, and half the drops which glimmered on his rotund face were not rain but sweat.
1956, Delano Ames, chapter 23, in Crime out of MindCaptain McGarrigle, however, seemed to be in trouble. He was breathing stertorously, his throat and chest juddering like those of an asthmatic.
2000, Mark Gatiss, chapter 20, in Last of the Gaderene
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian хри́пкаво
- хри́пкаво (hrípkavo)with heavy breathing, as if snoring
Czech chroptivě
- chroptivěwith heavy breathing, as if snoring
Finnish korahdellen, koristen
- korahdellenwith heavy breathing, as if snoring
- koristenwith heavy breathing, as if snoring
German röchelnd
- röchelndwith heavy breathing, as if snoring
Russian тяжело́, хрипя́ще
- тяжело́ (tjaželó)with heavy breathing, as if snoring
- хрипя́ще (xripjášče)with heavy breathing, as if snoring
- затруднённо (zatrudnjónno)with heavy breathing, as if snoring
- стерторо́зно (stertorózno)with heavy breathing, as if snoring
Cite this entry
stertorously. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stertorously
“stertorously.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stertorously. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stertorously,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stertorously.
Source: stertorously on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.