English

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Etymology

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From breath-catching +‎ -ly.

Adverb

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breath-catchingly (comparative more breath-catchingly, superlative most breath-catchingly)

  1. shockingly; so as to make one catch one's breath
    • 2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):
      Some of Grimsby’s other (extraordinarily up-to-date) targets include Donald Trump and Daniel Radcliffe, whose fates here are too breath-catchingly cruel to spoil, and also the admirably game Strong, whose character is beset by a constant stream of humiliations that hit with the force of a jet of…well, you’ll see.