Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To kill or destroy by preventing access of air or oxygen.
  • intransitive verb To impair the breathing of or cause discomfort to by cutting off the supply of fresh air.
  • intransitive verb To suppress the development, imagination, or creativity of; stifle.
  • intransitive verb To die from lack of air or oxygen.
  • intransitive verb To feel discomfort from lack of fresh air.
  • intransitive verb To become or feel oppressed; be stifled.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Suffocated; choked.
  • To kill by preventing the access of air to the blood through the lungs or analogous organs, as gills.
  • To impede respiration in; compress so as to prevent respiration.
  • To stifle; smother; extinguish: as, to suffocate fire or live coals.
  • Synonyms Stifle, Strangle, etc. See smother.
  • To become choked, stifled, or smothered: as, we are suffocating in this close room.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Suffocated; choked.
  • transitive verb To choke or kill by stopping respiration; to stifle; to smother.
  • transitive verb To destroy; to extinguish.
  • intransitive verb To become choked, stifled, or smothered.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb ergative To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
  • verb ergative To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.
  • verb ergative, figuratively To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake
  • verb deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
  • verb suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of
  • verb impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
  • verb be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen
  • verb feel uncomfortable for lack of fresh air
  • verb become stultified, suppressed, or stifled

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin suffōcāre, suffōcāt- : sub-, sub- + faucēs, throat.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin suffocatus, past participle of suffocare ("to choke, stifle"), from sub ("under") + faux ("the upper part of the throat, the pharynx").

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Examples

  • He said he won't allow the strikes to "suffocate" the economy.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2010

  • He said he won't allow the strikes to "suffocate" the economy.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2010

  • In an interview, Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman explains why his country is not ready to negotiate over the status of Jerusalem, why he believes peace cannot be imposed in the Middle East and how tougher Western sanctions could be enough to "suffocate" the Iranian nuclear program.

    Politics Associated Press 2010

  • The Tories and the LibDems said fears that ministers were attempting to 'suffocate' the inquiry were being borne out.

    Home | Mail Online 2010

  • Basically the rat will be full of glue and either suffocate which is a horrible death!

    Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2010

  • Since we learned last week that Gia had the maid bottle feed her baby at night so the little vampire won't "suffocate" her for milk.

    Vh1 Blog 2010

  • He said he won't allow the strikes to "suffocate" the economy.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2010

  • Basically the rat will be full of glue and either suffocate which is a horrible death!

    Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2010

  • The net effect of this discovery is two-fold: first the blind mole rat can serve a "living tumor" in cancer research; and-perhaps more important-that unique gene in the blind mole rat becomes a prime target for new anti-cancer drugs that can "suffocate" tumors.

    Medindia Health News 2009

  • Which liens will "suffocate" the short sale process

    Feed of Eventbrite Events 2009

Comments

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  • Donald Duck and Daisy Duck were spending the night together in a hotel room and Donald wanted to have sex with Daisy.

    The first thing Daisy asked was, 'Do you have a condom?'

    Donald frowned and said, 'No.'

    Daisy told Donald that if he didn't get a condom, they could not have sex.

    'Maybe they sell them at the front desk,' she suggested.

    So Donald went down to the lobby and asked the hotel clerk if they had condoms.

    'Yes, we do,' the clerk said and pulled a box out from under the counter and gave it to Donald.

    The clerk asked, 'Would you like me to put them on your bill?

    'No!' Donald quacked, I'll thuffocate'.

    August 4, 2009