bated

Word family

• abate
  verbB2
• abatement
  nounC1
• abated
  adjectiveC2
• abating
  adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

'With bated breath' uniquely combines the ideas of anxious waiting and restrained excitement in a single fixed phrase. 'Anxious' focuses on worry and unease — you can feel anxious about many things, not just while waiting. 'Eager' has a more positive, hopeful tone and lacks the nervous quality of the fixed phrase. 'Tense' describes the physical or emotional state of strain and works outside the waiting context ('a tense silence'). 'Excited' expresses enthusiasm and anticipation, but without the held-back, breathless quality that 'bated breath' conveys. In practice, modern English speakers use 'with bated breath' when the outcome matters deeply and the wait feels charged with emotion — e.g., 'The courtroom sat with bated breath as the jury filed in.' None of the synonyms can substitute directly for the full phrase.

Common collocations

Etymology

'Bated' is a shortened form of 'abated' (the past participle of 'abate'), which comes from Old French 'abattre' (to beat down, strike down), from Latin 'ad-' + 'battuere' (to beat). By the 16th century, 'bate' emerged as a clipped verb meaning 'to reduce, lessen, or diminish.' Its past participle 'bated' survived in the set phrase 'with bated breath' — originally meaning 'with breath held or reduced' — which became so firmly established that the verb itself mostly fell out of ordinary use while the frozen phrase endured.