breathe a sigh of relief

breathe a sigh of relief

To experience an intense feeling of happiness or relief because something particularly stressful, unpleasant, or undesirable has been avoided or completed. Everyone in class breathed a sigh of relief after that horrible midterm exam was over. Investors are breathing a big sigh of relief now that the predicted downturn has seemingly been avoided.

See also: breathe, of, relief, sigh

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

breathe a sigh of relief

 

1. Lit. to sigh in a way that signals one's relief that something has come to an end. At the end of the contest, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

2. Fig. to express relief that something has ended. With the contract finally signed, we breathed a sigh of relief as we drank a toast in celebration.

See also: breathe, of, relief, sigh

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.