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suffocate

verb
/ˈsʌfəkeɪt/

Etymology

The adjective is first attested in the 1420s, 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.

  1. derived from suffōcō
  2. derived from suffōcātus
  3. inherited from suffocat — “deprived of air, suffocated”

Definitions

  1. To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.

    • Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!
    • It is because of freedom, one netizen replied: Like air, you may not realize its importance, but when suffocating, you would know how precious it is.

  2. 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.
    • Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.

  3. To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.

    • I'm suffocating under this huge workload.
    • If the trend to private cars continues, the more quickly will the road traffic suffocate itself, [...].
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. To destroy

      To destroy; to extinguish.

      • to suffocate fire

    2. Suffocated, choked.

    3. Smothered, overwhelmed.

      • This chaos, when degree is suffocate, follows the choking

The neighborhood

Derived

smothercate, suffocater, suffocation, suffocative, suffocator, unsuffocate

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for suffocate. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA