different between sigh vs exclaim

English

Etymology

From Middle English sihen, from Old English s?can. (The OE infinitive would have given ME forms with /t?/ or /k/, which are both attested, so the /h/ form is probably a back-formation from the preterite sihte.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophones: sie, sai, psi, xi, scye, Si, Sy, Cy

Verb

sigh (third-person singular simple present sighs, present participle sighing, simple past and past participle sighed)

1. (intransitive) To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.

2. (intransitive) To lament; to grieve.

   • He sighed deeply in his spirit.

3. (intransitive, transitive) To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
   • 1695, Matthew Prior, An ode presented to the king, on His Majesty's arrival in Holland, after the Queen's death

     Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.

4. (intransitive) To experience an emotion associated with sighing.

5. (intransitive) To make a sound like sighing.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Death of the Old Year

     The winter winds are wearily sighing.

6. (transitive) To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
7. (transitive) To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
   • 1763, John Hoole (translator), Jerusalem Delivered (by Torquato Tasso

     The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.

Synonyms

• (all): sithe (obsolete)

Translations

Noun

sigh (plural sighs)

1. A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.
   • 1913, Eleanor Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter 7:

     To Pollyanna the air was all the more stifling after that cool breath of the out of doors; but she did not complain. She only drew a long quivering sigh.

2. Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lament.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person who is bored.

Derived terms

• yawn-sigh

Translations

Interjection

sigh

1. An expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like, often used in casual written contexts.

   Sigh, I'm so bored at work today.

Translations

Anagrams

• Gish, gish

English

Alternative forms

• exclame [16th-17th c.]

Etymology

From Middle French exclamer, from Latin excl?m?, excl?m?re (“call out”), from ex- + cl?m? (“to call”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?skle?m/, /?k?skle?m/
• Rhymes: -e?m

Verb

exclaim (third-person singular simple present exclaims, present participle exclaiming, simple past and past participle exclaimed)

1. (intransitive) To cry out suddenly, from some strong emotion.
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act V, Scene 3,^[1]

     I am a soldier, and unapt to weep,

     Or to exclaim on fortune’s fickleness.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 9, p. 33,^[2]

     Very grave and good Women exclaimed against Men who begot Children and then disowned them.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Chapter 12,^[3]

     This wretched note was the finale of Emma’s breakfast. When once it had been read, there was no doing any thing, but lament and exclaim.

   • 1925, Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985, p. 114,^[4]

     […] he could remember Sally tearing off a rose, stopping to exclaim at the beauty of the cabbage leaves in the moonlight […]

   • 2011, Alan Hollinghurst, The Stranger’s Child, New York: Knopf, Part 4, Chapter 1, p. 285,^[5]

     […] at the front door below a few guests were leaving, and the bright rectangle widened and narrowed as they slipped out into the night, laughing and exclaiming about the weather.

2. (transitive) To say suddenly and with strong emotion.
   • 1603, Michael Drayton, The Barrons Wars in the Raigne of Edward the Second, London: N. Ling, “Alice Countesse of Salisburie, to the blacke Prince,” p. 31,^[6]

     Must she be forc’d, t’exclaime th’iniurious wrong?

     Offred by him, whom she hath lou’d so long?

     Nay, I will tell, and I durst almost sweare,

     Edward will blush, when he his fault shall heare.

   • 1748, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random, London: J. Osborn, Volume 2, Chapter 40, p. 28,^[7]

     […] her aunt, after having stared at me a good while with a look of amazement, exclaimed, “In the name of heaven! Who art thou?”—

   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, Chapter 12,^[8]

     Without returning any direct reply, Miss Squeers, all at once, fell into a paroxysm of spiteful tears, and exclaimed that she was a wretched, neglected, miserable castaway.

   • “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”

   • 2017, André Aciman, Enigma Variations, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, “Manfred,” p. 135,^[9]

     You never pump your arm when you score, you never exclaim anything, you don’t even smile when you fire a perfect backhand straight down the line.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:shout

Derived terms

• exclaimer

Related terms

Translations

Noun

exclaim (plural exclaims)

1. (obsolete) Exclamation; outcry, clamor.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act I, Scene 2,^[10]

     Foul devil, for God’s sake, hence, and trouble us not;

     For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell,

     Fill’d it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.

   • 1635, John Donne, “His parting form her”:

     Oh fortune, thou’rt not worth my least exclame [...].