a breath of fresh air

If you describe someone or something as a breath of fresh air, you mean that they are pleasantly different from what you are used to.

I think you're a great family and I'm glad I'm going to join you. After the stuffy conversation we have at our dinner table, this is like a breath of fresh air.

Basically, I was bored. Brian never wanted to do anything. Life was stagnant. So Mike, my present husband, was a breath of fresh air.

hold your breath

If you say that someone is holding their breath, you mean that they are waiting anxiously or excitedly to see what happens next.

She had been holding her breath and hoping that the agreement would be signed.

The world is holding its breath, he said, as we begin to negotiate the future of our country.

If you say that you aren't holding your breath, you mean that you are not expecting a particular thing to happen, and so you are not worried or excited about it. In a situation like this, you can also advise someone: `don't hold your breath'.

The Chancellor has predicted Britain will drag itself out of the slump -- but don't hold your breath, because he doesn't know when.

in the same breath

If you say that someone says something and then in the same breath they say something else, you are pointing out that they are saying two things which are very different or which contradict each other.

For politicians to demand firm immigration controls and argue against racism in the same breath is a deep contradiction.

In the same breath you say that you are terribly depressed, and in the next, list your good points, which I am sure are very real.

take your breath away

If something takes your breath away, it amazes and impresses you because it is so wonderful.

`Tell me again about the picture.' `It's beautiful. sexy, It's so beautiful it takes your breath away.'

He had never believed he would come to such power. The more he realized it, the more it took his breath away.

waste your breath

If you tell someone that they are wasting their breath, you are telling them that there is no point in them continuing with what they are saying, because it will not have any effect.

He wanted to protest again, but the tone of her voice told him he was wasting his breath.

Before I could get very far he interrupted me to tell me that I was wasting my breath.

You can also tell someone that what they are saying is a waste of breath.

He would admit to the thefts, but deny everything else, and old accusations would be a waste of breath.

with bated breath

If you wait for something with bated breath, you look forward to it, or you wait in an anxious or interested way to see what happens next.

The institution is now waiting with bated breath to see if the results of the next few surveys confirm its current assessment.

They got the people in the villages interested in what was going to to this , so they were then watching with bated breath as the experiment began.