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to prevent something from happening, being expressed, or continuing: She stifled a cough / yawn / scream / sneeze. I don't know how I managed to stifle my anger. We should be encouraging new ideas, not stifling them. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.
The meaning of STIFLE is to withhold from circulation or expression. How to use stifle in a sentence.
If you stifle your natural feelings or behaviour, you prevent yourself from having those feelings or behaving in that way. It is best to stifle curiosity and leave birds' nests alone. [ VERB noun ]
to prevent something from happening, being expressed, or continuing: She stifled a cough / yawn / scream / sneeze. I don't know how I managed to stifle my anger. We should be encouraging new ideas, not stifling them. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.
Stifle definition: to quell, crush, or end by force. See examples of STIFLE used in a sentence.
To stifle is to cut off, hold back, or smother. You may stifle your cough if you don't want to interrupt a lecture or you may stifle the competition if you fear losing. The verb stifle means “to choke, suffocate, drown.”
1. To interrupt or cut off (the voice, for example). 2. To keep in or hold back; repress: stifled my indignation. 3. To kill by preventing respiration; smother or suffocate. [Middle English stifilen, alteration (influenced by Old Norse stīfla, to stop up) of stuffen, stuflen, to stifle, choke, drown, from Old French estoufer, of Germanic origin .]
[intransitive, transitive] to feel unable to breathe, or to make somebody unable to breathe, because it is too hot and/or there is no fresh air synonym suffocate. I felt I was stifling in the airless room. stifle somebody Most of the victims were stifled by the fumes. Word Origin.
Definition of stifle verb in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
To interrupt or cut off (the voice, for example). American Heritage. To die from lack of air. Webster's New World. Similar definitions. To suffer from lack of fresh, cool air. Webster's New World. To suppress or repress; hold back; check, stop, inhibit, etc. To stifle a sob, to stifle protests.
