don't hold your breath
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
do not expect something to happen soon
Literally: refrain from breathing while waiting
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
‘ You'll be able to work on your tan tomorrow, surf sweetie,’ she shouted after the Daughter, ‘ but don't hold your breath waiting for the tide to come in.’
Sir Peter has sold the film rights to Romulus Films — but don't hold your breath waiting for it.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “don't hold your breath” mean?
do not expect something to happen soon Literally: refrain from breathing while waiting
Is “don't hold your breath” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.