Suffocate

Definition: Suffocate

Suffocate

Verb

1. Deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing; "Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow"; "The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor".

2. Impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of; "The foul air was slowly suffocating the children".

3. Suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of; "His job suffocated him".

4. Be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen; "The child suffocated under the pillow".

5. Feel uncomfortable for lack of fresh air; "The room was hot and stuffy and we were suffocating".

6. Struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake; "he swallowed a fishbone and gagged".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "suffocate" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1591. (references)

Synonyms: Suffocate

Killing

Strangle, garrote, hang, throttle, choke, stifle, suffocate, stop the breath, smother, asphyxiate, drown.

Redundancy

Choke, cloy, accloy, suffocate; pile up, lay on thick; impregnate with; lavish; (squander).

Crosswords: Suffocate

Are you trying suffocate me? (Clone High; writing credit: Damian Chapa)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Music

• Suffocate #1 [IMPORT] (reference)

• Suffocate Me [EP] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Human Rights

Swaziland

Police sometimes beat criminal suspects and occasionally used the "tube" style of interrogation, in which police suffocate suspects through the use of a rubber tube around the face and mouth. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Afrikaans

onderdruk (choke, quell, suppress). (various references)

Albanian

mbyt (asphyxiate, assail, blanket, choke, deluge, drown, jugulate, smother, stifle, strangle, throttle, wreck), më merret fryma (be out of breath, smother), i zë frymën (overlie, squeeze, stifle, strangle, wind). (various references)

Arabic 

‏خنق (asphyxiate, choke, flummox, garrote, neck, overlay, overpower, sizzle, stifle, strangle, strangulate, strangulation, stultify, suffocation, throttle, throttling, worry), ‏إختنق (asphyxiate, choke, smother, stifle, strangle). (various references)

Bulgarian 

удушавам (mug, stifle, strangle, strangulate), задушавам се (strangle, strangulate), задушавам (asphyxiate, braise, choke, damp, jug, jugulate, overlie, poach, smother, stew, stifle, strangle, throttle). (various references)

Chinese 

�'息 (choke, stifle). (various references)

Czech

udusit se (asphyxiate), dusit se (choke, choke up, stew, stifle), dusit (braise, mute, steam, stew). (various references)

Dutch

smoren (choke, quell, suppress), onderdrukken (choke, quell, suppress), neerslaan (choke, quell, suppress). (various references)

Esperanto

sufoki (choke, quell, suppress). (various references)

Faeroese

kvala (choke, quell, strangle, suppress), køva (choke, quell, suppress). (various references)

Farsi 

خفه کردن (Asphyxiate, Choke, Extinguish, Mute, Scrag, Shutup, Smolder, Smother, Squash, Stifle, Strangle, Strangulate, Throttle), خاموش کردن (Extinguish, Hush, Out, Quench, Smolder, Smother, Stanch, Stifle). (various references)

Finnish

tukehduttaa (choke, quell, suppress). (various references)

French

suffoquer (suppress), étouffer (suppress). (various references)

German

ersticken (asphyxiate, be suffocated, become choked, choke, choke up, damp, muffle, muzzle, quell, smother, snuff, stifle, strangle, suppress, throttle, to asphyxiate, to smother, to stifle), ersticke. (various references)

Greek 

πνίγω (choke, drown, muffle, overwhelm, smother, stifle, strangle, strangulate, throttle). (various references)

Hebrew 

ל�"ח� ק. (various references)

Hungarian

megfullaszt (asphyxiate, smother, to asphyxiate), megfojt (asphyxiate, strangle, throttle, to asphyxiate, to choke, to garotte, to garrotte, to scrag, to smother, to stifle, to strangle, to strangulate, to suffocate, to throttle). (various references)

Italian

soffocare (choke, quell, smother, squash, stamp out, stifle, suppress, swelter). (various references)

Korean 

질식하십시�". (various references)

Manx

plooghey (asphyxia, asthma, choke, choking, congest, congestion, cushion, fugginess, glut, inundate, inundation, muffle, restrain, smother, smothering, stifle, suffocation, tamp). (various references)

Pig Latin

uffocatesay

Portuguese

sufocar (choke, quell, smother, stifle, strangle, suppress, throttle), abafar (blanket, burke, choke, cover up, cushion, damp, drench, drown, hugger-mugger, hush up, muffle, pilfer, quell, smother, steal the show, stifle, suppress, swelter). (various references)

Romanian

sufoca (asphyxiate, choke, smother, stifle, throttle), strânge (accrete, accumulate, acerbate, acquire, agglomerate, amass, assemble, bind, call, chuck, clamp, clasp, clear, clench, close, collect, compress, concentrate, congregate, constrain, constrict, contract, converge, convolve, cramp, crop, crouch, crowd, crush, cull, cut, diminish, double, fasten, fold, force, garner, gather, glean, harvest, haul, hoard, house, hug, jam, lay aside, lay by, lay in, lay up, levy, lock, lump, make up, mass, muster, nip, pack, pick, pick up, pile, pile on, pinch, press, put away, put by, rake together, rake up, rally, reap, screw, shrink, shut, squeeze, stifle, stock, store, straighten, strain, straiten, take up, tighten, troop, warehouse), ucide (assassinate, butcher, croak, destroy, execute, kill, murder, poison, slaughter, slay, smother, spoil, strangle), nãduşi (stifle, sweat), asfixia (asphyxiate, choke, smother), îneca (choke, deluge, drown, float, flood, flush, inundate, overflow, smother, steep, stifle, suffuse, swamp), înãbuşi (blanket, bring under, choke, control, deaden, deafen, drown, hush, keep down, kill, mortify, muffle, quash, quell, quench, restrain, smother, stifle, strangle, suppress, throttle). (various references)

Russian 

задыхаться (asphyxiate, be out of breath, choke, gasp, huff and puff, pant, throttle), душить (choke, scent, smother, smothers, stifle, stifle joint, strangle, strangles, strangulate, throttle). (various references)

Scottish

mùch (extinguish, smother, squeeze together). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zagušiti (asphyxiate, block), zadaviti (jugulate), ugušiti (asphyxiate, burke, choke, muffle, nip, quash, quell, repress, scotch, smother, squash, stall, stifle, strangle, suppress, throttle). (various references)

Spanish

sofocar (asphyxiate, break, choke, nearly die, put down, put out, quell, quench, smother, stifle, suffocation, suppress, throttle). (various references)

Swedish

kvävas (choke, stifle), kväva (asphyxiate, choke, damp, dampen, smother, stifle, strangle, suppress, throttle). (various references)

Thai

ทำให้อึ�"อั�"หายใจไม่ออก, ทำให้ร้อนอบอ้าว, ฆ่าโ�"ยการทำให้หายใจไม่ออก, หายใจไม่ออก (stifle), ขั�"ขวาง (balk, bar, deter, forbid, hinder, rule out, stymie, stymy, thwart). (various references)

Turkish

söndürmek (attenuate, damp, damp down, dampen, deflate, douse, dowse, extinguish, hydrate, kill, put out, quench, slack, slacken, slake, snuff out, switch off, trample out, turn off, turn out), tıkanmak (be choked up, be jammed, be stopped, be stuffy, choke, choke up, clog, come to a deadlock, congest, deadlock, foul up, stifle), hava alamamak, bunalmak (be snowed under, swelter), boğulmak (be drowned, choke, get drowned, smother, splutter, sputter, stifle), boğmak (asphyxiate, Burke, choke, drown, glut, inundate, jugulate, overwhelm, smother, smother with, stifle, strangle, strangulate, throttle, whelm). (various references)

Turkmen 

bogulmak. (various references)

Ukrainian

задихатися (asphyxiate, choke, gasp, pant, smother, stifle, strangle, throttle), душити (asphyxiate, champ, choke, smother, stifle, strangulate, throttle). (various references)

Welsh

mygu (asphyxiate, smoke, smother, stifle). (various references)

praefoco, praefoco, prefoco, suffocabam, suffocabat, suffocans, suffocant, suffocantur, suffocati, suffocatis, suffocato, suffocatus, suffocaverunt, suffoco. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "suffocate": suffocated, suffocates. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Suffocate" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: sofocate, suffecate. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: outfaces.

-2 letters: acetous, affects, castoff, coteaus, cutoffs, faucets, offcast, offcuts, outface.

-3 letters: acutes, affect, costae, coteau, cuesta, cutoff, facets, fauces, faucet, foetus, fucose, offcut, offset, setoff.

-4 letters: acute, ascot, autos, cafes, caffs, caste, cates, cause, cesta, coast, coats, coffs, coset, costa, cotes, cuffs, cutes, escot, faces, facet, facts, fates, fatso, feast, feats, fetas, fetus.

+1 letter: suffocated, suffocates, tuffaceous.

+2 letters: suffocative.

+4 letters: effectuations.