Gasp Meaning
/ɡɑːsp/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo draw in the breath suddenly, as if from a shock.
verbTo breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion; to respire with heaving of the breast; to pant.
Sentence Examples
She could scarcely gasp the words.
I heard Tom gasp.
Tom came up for a gasp of air.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Many people ____ in shock when they suddenly see a spider nearby.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The audience let out a collective ____ of surprise when the magician suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English gaspen, gayspen (“to gape, outbreathe”), related to and likely derived from Old Norse geispa (“to yawn”) or its descendant Danish gispe, which may be related to gapa (“to gape”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Quenching the gasping furrows' thirst with rain."
— 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Aprill. Aegloga Quarta.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:
"Those who dwell outside of Western Establishment bastions are not idiots just because they do not mouth the pieties of GASP. Some of them can write very well. There are other traditions, you know. They could write for Wikipedia, if you let them. But such true openness and genuine tolerance is unacceptable, precisely because those other traditions fail to pay exclusive homage to GASP sources, through which—Wikipedians imagine—all the benefits of global civilization flow."
— 2025 September 30, Larry Sanger, “2. Enable competing articles.”, in larrysanger.org:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Many people ____ in shock when they suddenly see a spider nearby.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The audience let out a collective ____ of surprise when the magician suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.