breath of life
What vivifies beings
The breath of life is what animates a living being—the vital force that distinguishes the living from the dead.
The phrase comes from the biblical account of creation, where God breathes life into Adam.
In extended use, breath of life describes whatever sustains or invigorates something: Coffee is the breath of life for me in the morning.
To breathe life into something is to revitalize or energize it.
- oxygenElement eight, colorless gas
- pneumaGreek vital spirit
- holy spiritSacred immaterial divine presence
- soulInnermost animating essence
- living soulAny existing person
respiration · air · prana · anima · spirit · quickening · creation · chi · divine spark · genesis · lungs · exhale · mouth to mouth · insufflation · awakening · heartbeat · essence · vitality
- spiritghost, specter, phantom, apparition, soul
- "life" phraseslifeblood, nightlife, wildlife, lowlife, highlife
- renewalrenewal, reinvigoration, restart, reboot, fresh start
- creation mythscosmogony, theogony, world egg, creation, primordial
- life forcevital force, vital spark, chi, qi, ki
- ankhankh
breath of lifekiss of death
Ultimately ruinous act
death knell · death blow · death rattle · coup de grâce · fatal blow
breath of lifedeath knell
Omen of ending
nail in the coffin · death spiral · beginning of the end · fatal blow · decay
breath of lifesoullessness
Lacking spirit or feeling
spiritual death · damnation · void · oblivion · emptiness
life, lively, breath, breathe, breathing, lifeless, lifetime, lifelong, breathed