Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Smothering |
SmotheringAdjective1. Causing difficulty in breathing especially through lack of fresh air and presence of heat; "the choking June dust"; "the smothering soft voices"; "smothering heat"; "the room was suffocating--hot and airless". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "smothering" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1594. (references) |
Synonyms: SmotheringSynonyms: choking (adj), suffocating (adj), suffocative (adj). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Smothering |
| English words defined with "smothering": choking ♦ Fire annihilator ♦ Smotheringly, suffocating, suffocative. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "smothering": fire extinguishing ♦ principle of fire extinguishment ♦ smothering blanket. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | She seems totally uninterested in me, despite my smothering obsessiveness! (Cabin Boy; writing credit: Adam Resnick) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Smothering" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 86.44% of the time. "Smothering" is used about 59 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 86.44% | 51 | 47,619 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 10.17% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.69% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.69% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 59 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "smothering": smothering a fire ♦ smothering blanket. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "smothering": all-smothering, path-smothering. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "smothering"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | '息 (Asphyxiate, Asphyxiated, asphyxiating, Asphyxiation, smother, smothered, suffocate, Suffocated, suffocating). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | kvaelning (smothering disease), kvælning af ild (smothering a fire), kvælende gas (smothering gas), brandtaeppe (smothering blanket), asbesttaeppe (smothering blanket). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | smoren (choke, quell, suffocate, suppress), verstikkingsgas (smothering gas), doven van een vuur (smothering a fire), branddeken (smothering blanket), brandblusinstallatie met verstikkend gas (fire smothering gas installation), blusdeken (smothering blanket). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | tukahduttaminen (repression, suppression). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | gaz d'étouffement (smothering gas), dispositif d'extinction par gaz inerte (fire smothering gas installation), couverture d'extinction (smothering blanket), couverture anti-feu (smothering blanket), étouffement d'un feu (smothering a fire), étouffement (smothering disease). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | erstickend (airless, asphyxiant, oppressive, stiffling, stifling, suffocating, suffocative, sultry). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κατάπνιξη πυρκαγιάς (smothering a fire), πυρίμαχη κουβέρτα (smothering blanket). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | tompítás, megfullasztás, megfulladás (choke, choking, drowning, suffocation), megfojtás (choke, choking, garotte, garrotte, strangling, strangulation), lefojtás, halpörkölés, fulladás (asphyxia, asphyxiation, asphyxy, choking, drowning), eloltás (extinction, quenching), elnyomás (enslavement, masking, oppression, quenching, repression, subjection, suppression, victimization, wipeout), elfojtás (choking, masking, quenching, repression, suppression). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | soffocare il fuoco (smothering a fire), impianto di estinzione a gas inerte (fire smothering gas installation), coperta d'amianto (smothering blanket). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 질식시킴 (Choking, stifling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | plooghey (asphyxia, asthma, choke, choking, congest, congestion, cushion, fugginess, glut, inundate, inundation, muffle, restrain, smother, stifle, suffocate, suffocation, tamp). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | otheringsmay sufocação (choke, strangulation, suffocation), gás de abafamento (smothering gas), cobertor de amianto (smothering blanket), abafamento de um incêndio (smothering a fire), abafamento (fug, suffocation). (various references) душить удушье. (various references) instalación extintora por gas inerte (fire smothering gas installation), gas extintor (smothering gas), cubierta protectora (jacket, nurse crop, sheath, shield, smothering blanket), ahogar un fuego (smothering a fire). (various references) släckgas (smothering gas), kvävning av eld (smothering a fire), asbestfilt (asbestos felt, smothering blanket). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "smothering" (pronounced smu"thering) |
| 6 | -m u" th er i ng | mothering. |
| 5 | -u" th er i ng | Wuthering. |
| 4 | -th er i ng | bothering, dithering, fathering, feathering, furthering, gathering, grandfathering, slithering, weathering, withering. |
| 3 | -er i ng | administering, altering, anchoring, angering, answering, auguring, backfiring, badgering, bantering, bartering, battering, belaboring, beleaguering, bettering, bewildering, bickering, blistering, blundering, blustering, bolstering, bordering, brokering, butchering, capturing, catering, censoring, centering, chartering, chattering, clamoring, clobbering, clustering, cluttering, coloring, configuring, conjuring, conquering, considering, cornering, countering, covering, cowering, culturing, deciphering, delivering, desiring, devouring, diapering, dickering, differing, discovering, disfavoring, disfiguring, dismembering, doctoring, doddering, embroidering, empowering, encountering, endangering, endeavoring, entering, factoring, faltering, favoring, featuring, festering, figuring, filibustering, filtering, fingering, flattering, flavoring, flickering, floundering, flowering, fluttering, fostering, foundering, fracturing, frittering, garnering, gerrymandering, gesturing, glimmering, glittering, glowering, guttering, hammering, hampering, hankering, harboring, hectoring, hindering, hollering, honoring, hovering, hungering, hunkering, injuring, inquiring, laboring, laundering, lawyering, layering, lecturing, lettering, levering, lingering, littering, loitering, lowering, lumbering, majoring, maneuvering, manufacturing, massacring, mastering, maundering, meandering, measuring, mentoring, metering, minoring, mirroring, mitering, mongering, monitoring, motoring, murdering, murmuring, mustering, muttering, nattering, neighboring, neutering, nonmanufacturing, numbering, nurturing, offering, ordering, outnumbering, pampering, pandering, papering, partnering, peppering, perjuring, pestering, petering, philandering, picturing, pilfering, plastering, plundering, pondering, posturing, powdering, powering, pressuring, proffering, prospering, puncturing, puttering, quivering, recapturing, reconsidering, recovering, rediscovering, reentering, registering, rejiggering, remembering, rendering, reoffering, reordering, requiring, restructuring, rewiring, rupturing, savoring, scampering, scattering, scouring, sculpturing, sequestering, severing, shattering, sheltering, shimmering, shivering, shouldering, showering, shuddering, shuttering, simmering, slaughtering, slobbering, slumbering, smattering, smoldering, snickering, sobering, soldering, soldiering, souring, spattering, spiering, splintering, sponsoring, sputtering, squandering, staggering, structuring, stuttering, suffering, surrendering, swaggering, sweltering, tailoring, tampering, tapering, teetering, tempering, tendering, thundering, tinkering, torturing, tottering, towering, transpiring, triggering, tutoring, uncovering, unflattering, unwavering, ushering, uttering, venturing, wagering, wallpapering, wandering, warmongering, watering, wavering, whimpering, whispering, wondering, zippering. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-h-i-m-n-o-r-s-t" | |
-1 letter: horsemint, mothering, something, thermions. | |
-2 letters: ergotism, genitors, ghostier, histogen, homering, horniest, isotherm, mitogens, ornithes, shorting, storming, thermion. | |
-3 letters: egotism, emoting, eringos, erotism, ethions, genitor, gnomish, gnomist, goiters, goitres, gorhens, goriest, heriots, hermits, heroins, heroism, hingers, hinters, histone, hogties, hoister, homiest, homines, hornets, hornist, horsing, hosting, ignores, inshore, menhirs, mentors, merinos, meshing, mestino, metring. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-h-i-m-n-o-r-s-t" | |
+1 letter: resmoothing. | |
+2 letters: earthmovings, moonlighters. | |
+3 letters: thermosetting, thermostating. | |
+4 letters: cinematographs, magnetospheric, metamorphosing, thermostatting. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 6D 6F 74 68 65 72 69 6E 67 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... -- --- - .... . .-. .. -. --. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010011 01101101 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)S m o t h e r i n g |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0053 006D 006F 0074 0068 0065 0072 0069 006E 0067 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)53798186747184758073 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
