Meanings
- Softly, so as not to be heard.
“Here she go lookin’ like a straight up dirty coochie having hoochie gettin’ all the play,” Quanisha mumbled under her breath jealously.
2006, J. Gail, Karma’s a Bitch, page 1362 more examples
Then of a sudden she was kissing and fondling instead of fighting me off, laughing under her breath and using a few horny words I didn't know at that time
2015, Edgar Pangborn, Edgar Pangborn SF Gateway OmnibusAs I prepared myself by putting my Keds back on (I still take my shoes off at any opportunity), my mom mumbled something under her breath at my dad.
2022, Jenny Pentland, This Will Be Funny Later: A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Harper, →ISBN, page 59Synonyms: underneath one's breath, sotto voce
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseSoftly, so as not to be heard.
Translations
Finnish puoliääneen
- puoliääneensoftly
French à voix basse, dans sa barbe
- à voix bassesoftly
- dans sa barbesoftly
- entre ses dentssoftly
German leise
- leisesoftly
Italian sotto voce, a bassa voce
- sotto vocesoftly
- a bassa vocesoftly
Polish pod nosem, pod wąsem
- pod nosemsoftly
- pod wąsemsoftly
Russian под нос
- под нос (pod nos)softly
Spanish en voz baja, entredientes
- en voz bajasoftly
- entredientessoftly
- entre dientessoftly
Cite this entry
under one's breath. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20one's%20breath
“under one's breath.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20one's%20breath. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “under one's breath,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20one's%20breath.
Source: under one's breath on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.