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- Dictionarystifle/ˈstʌɪfl/
verb
- 1. make (someone) unable to breathe properly; suffocate: "those in the streets were stifled by the fumes" Similar
- 2. restrain (a reaction) or stop oneself acting on (an emotion): "she stifled a giggle" Similar Opposite
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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.
1. a. : to withhold from circulation or expression. stifled our anger. b. : to cut off (the voice, the breath, etc.) c. : deter, discourage. 2. a(1) : muffle. (2) : smother. b. : to kill by depriving of oxygen : suffocate. intransitive verb.
to smother or suppress. stifle a cough. 2. to feel or cause to feel discomfort and difficulty in breathing. 3. to prevent or be prevented from breathing so as to cause death. 4. (transitive) to crush or stamp out. Collins English Dictionary.
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 verb stifle means “to choke, suffocate, drown.” It can describe a claustrophobic feeling, like getting smothered by kisses from your great aunt. At its most extreme, stifle means to kill by cutting off respiration.
[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.
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 .]
Definition of stifle verb in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
1. If someone stifles something you consider to be a good thing, they prevent it from continuing. [disapproval] [...] 2. If you stifle a yawn or laugh, you prevent yourself from yawning or laughing. [...] 3. If you stifle your natural feelings or behavior, you prevent yourself from having those feelings or behaving in that way. [...] More.
1. If someone stifles something you consider to be a good thing, they prevent it from continuing. [disapproval] [...] 2. If you stifle a yawn or laugh, you prevent yourself from yawning or laughing. [...] 3. If you stifle your natural feelings or behaviour, you prevent yourself from having those feelings or behaving in that way. [...] More.
