Take a Breather

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🗓️ Idiom: Take a Breather

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💬 Meaning

• To take a short break from work or an activity to rest and recover.
• It helps reduce stress and regain focus before continuing.

🧠 Example Sentences

• After reviewing dozens of resumes, the recruiter decided to take a breather.
• Let’s take a breather before we move on to the next round of interviews.
• You’ve been working all morning, why don’t you take a breather?

🏛️ Origin

The phrase dates back to the 19th century and comes from the word “breath,” meaning to stop and catch your breath. It was commonly used in the context of physical activity but now applies more broadly.

📝 Practice Exercises

1. Fill in the blank:

We had back-to-back meetings all morning, so we decided to __________ a breather before lunch.

Answer

take

2. Choose the correct meaning of “take a breather”:

A) To quit your job
B) To pause briefly and rest
C) To ask for a promotion

Answer

B) To pause briefly and rest

3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:

“He paused for a moment to recover before continuing the discussion.” → Change the sentence using: take a breather

Answer

He took a breather before continuing the discussion.

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ℹ️ Other Useful Pages

👉 HR and Recruitment Idioms
👉 Business English Idioms List
👉 Student Space
👉 Tutor Toolkit

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