a breath of fresh air
(like) a breath of fresh air
Refreshingly new, different, and pleasing. After dating a series of boring men, Tom's adventurous nature was like a breath of fresh air to Sarah. The beautiful new paint color is a breath of fresh air for the house. With Hollywood always foisting garbage upon us, it's like a breath of fresh air when a quality film appears in theaters.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
a breath of fresh air
COMMON If you describe someone or something as a breath of fresh air, you mean that they are pleasantly different from what you are used to. I think you're a great family and I'm glad I'm going to join you. After the stuffy conversation we have at our dinner table, this is like a breath of fresh air. Brian never wanted to do anything. Life was stagnant. So Mike, my present husband, was a breath of fresh air.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
a breath of fresh air
1 a small amount of or a brief time in the fresh air. 2 a refreshing change, especially a new person on the scene.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
a breath of fresh ˈair
a person or thing that is new and different and therefore interesting and exciting: Having these young people living with us is like a breath of fresh air after years on our own.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
breath of fresh air, (like) a
Refreshing and new. Formerly expressed as (like) a breath of heaven or spring, this term became current in the mid-nineteenth century. “Her arrival on the scene was like a breath of fresh air,” wrote W. Somerset Maugham (Cakes and Ale, 1930).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer