suffocate

Meaning

Verb

1. (ergative) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
2. (ergative) To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.
3. (ergative, figuratively) To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.
4. (transitive) To destroy; to extinguish.

Adj

1. (obsolete) Suffocated, choked.
2. (obsolete) Smothered, overwhelmed.

Synonyms

choke

stifle

smother

asphyxiate

strangle

drown

throttle

suppress

quell

gag

swelter

quench

smoother

squelch

be unable to breathe

strangulate

overlay

quash

repress

affect

retch

roast

scrag

short-winded

slaughter

spew

stuffy

suffocation

swallow

choke on

force back

be strangled

be smothered

drown o.s.

restrict

bake

choke down

choke off

confine

dampen

extinguish

garotte

garrote

garrotte

gasp

glow

hot

🥵

muffle

oppress

overdo

Translations

ersticken

étouffer

soffocare

suffoquer

sofocar

asfixiar

sufocar

ahogar

ahogarse

asfixiar

smoren

asfissiare

verstikken

neerslaan

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsʌfəkeɪt/

Etymology

The adjective is first attested in the 1420's, the verb in 1526; from Middle English suffocat(e) (“deprived of air, suffocated”), borrowed from Latin suffōcātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin suffōcō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from sub- (“under, up to”) + fōx (“throat”, oblique stem in fōc-). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.