suffocate
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Latin suffocatus, past participle of suffocare (“to choke, stifle”), from sub (“under”) + faux (“the upper part of the throat, the pharynx”).
Verb [edit]
suffocate (third-person singular simple present suffocates, present participle suffocating, simple past and past participle suffocated)
- (ergative) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
- Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!
- (ergative) To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.
- He suffocated his wife by holding a pillow over her head.
- Shakespeare
- Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.
- (ergative, figuratively) To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.
- I'm suffocating under this huge workload.
- (transitive) To destroy; to extinguish.
- to suffocate fire
Synonyms [edit]
- (To suffer from reduced oxygen): asphyxiate
- (To die from insufficient oxygen): stifle
- (To be overwhelmed): drown
- (To reduce oxygen supply): asphyxiate, smother
- (To kill by deprivation of oxygen): asphyxiate, stifle
- (To make weary with contact): smother
Derived terms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
(intransitive) To suffer from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body
(intransitive) To die due to insufficient oxygen supply to the body
(transitive) To cause someone to suffer severely reduced oxygen supply to his body
(transitive) To kill someone by depriving him of a sufficient oxygen intake
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Adjective [edit]
suffocate (comparative more suffocate, superlative most suffocate)
- (obsolete) Suffocated; choked.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
External links [edit]
- suffocate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- suffocate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- suffocate at OneLook Dictionary Search
Latin [edit]
Verb [edit]
suffōcāte
- second-person plural present active imperative of suffōcō
