suffocate
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin suffocatus, past participle of suffocare (“to choke, stifle”), from sub (“under”) + faux (“the upper part of the throat, the pharynx”).
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
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!
- 2020 November 2, Jiu Xiao, “Chinese Communist Party Officials Push Anti-U.S. Propaganda While Sending Families to Live in the U.S.”, in Minghui[1]:
- 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.
- (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.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene vi]:
- 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.
- 1962 April, “London Airport rail link”, in Modern Railways, page 222:
- If the trend to private cars continues, the more quickly will the road traffic suffocate itself, [...].
- (transitive) To destroy; to extinguish.
- to suffocate fire
SynonymsEdit
- (To suffer from reduced oxygen): asphyxiate, choke
- (To die from insufficient oxygen): stifle, choke
- (To be overwhelmed): drown
- (To reduce oxygen supply): asphyxiate, choke, smother
- (To kill by deprivation of oxygen): asphyxiate, choke, stifle
- (To make weary with contact): smother
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
(intransitive) to suffer from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body
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(intransitive) to die due to insufficient oxygen supply to the body
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(transitive) to cause someone to suffer severely reduced oxygen supply to his body
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(transitive) to kill someone by depriving him of a sufficient oxygen intake
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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AdjectiveEdit
suffocate (comparative more suffocate, superlative most suffocate)
- (obsolete) Suffocated; choked.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:
- This chaos , when degree is suffocate , Follows the choking
Further readingEdit
- suffocate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- suffocate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- suffocate at OneLook Dictionary Search.
AnagramsEdit
LatinEdit
VerbEdit
suffōcāte