adjective

breathtaking

BREHTH-tay-kihng

adjective

So beautiful or spectacular that it leaves you momentarily stunned.

"The view from the summit was breathtaking."

"She wore a breathtaking dress to the awards ceremony."

So shocking, bold, or extreme that it takes people by surprise.

"His breathtaking arrogance left the whole room speechless."

"The scale of the fraud was breathtaking."

How to Use Breathtaking

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishAmazing enough to make you gasp — for good reasons (beauty) or bad ones (shock).

Common pairings

breathtaking view breathtaking beauty breathtaking arrogance breathtaking speed

more breathtaking comparative, most breathtaking superlative

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Can you complete this real example?

The view from the summit was _____.

A straightforward compound of "breath" and "taking" — literally something so striking it takes your breath away.

baking making waking taking faking raking shaking leaking quaking soaking braking staking