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choking

noun

Simple meaning

The process in which a person's airway becomes blocked, resulting in asphyxia in cases that are not treated promptly.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

chohking

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtʃoʊkɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The process in which a person's airway becomes blocked, resulting in asphyxia in cases that are not treated promptly.

  2. The act of coughing when a person finds it difficult to breathe.

  3. The act of trying to kill a person by strangulation.

  4. The result of something being choked.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The process in which a person's airway becomes blocked, resulting in asphyxia in cases that are not treated promptly.

Used this way, choking is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use choking

  • “No evidence that the choking was done by the accused.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

choking voicechoking sensationchoking sound

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • chokeverbBase word

    Breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • chokernounPerson or profession

    Someone who kills by strangling.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • choking coilnounCompound term

    A coil of low resistance and high inductance used in electrical circuits to pass direct current and attenuate alternating current.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: process in which a person's airway becomes blocked

throttling

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.