shoot the breeze
"shoot-the-breeze" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shoot the breeze” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To chat idly or generally waste time talking.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shoot-the-breeze · shoot the breeze · English
shoot the breeze · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shoot the breeze |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “shoot the breeze” in English
Rare enough to double-check
shoot the breeze is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To chat idly or generally waste time talking.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for shoot the breeze in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: A slang phrase, alluding to talking into the wind, it was first recorded in 1919. In the variant, first recorded in 1908, bull is used instead of breeze, and means "empty talk" or "lies." The correct English form is shoot the breeze, spelled S-H-O-O-T- -T-H-E- -B-R-E-E-Z-E.
Definition
- 1To chat idly or generally waste time talking.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how shoot the breeze appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We were just standing around shooting the breeze.
Oh, I've just been upstairs with your boss, shooting the breeze… shooting his fish.
Etymology
A slang phrase, alluding to talking into the wind, it was first recorded in 1919. In the variant, first recorded in 1908, bull is used instead of breeze, and means "empty talk" or "lies."
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.