stifle
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To make unconscious or cause to die by preventing breathing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
styfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstaɪfəl
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitivealso figuratively
To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) to die by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.
transitivehyperbolic
To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling.
transitivealso figuratively
To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.
transitivefiguratively
To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress.
transitive
To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium.
transitivefiguratively
To keep in, hold back, or repress (something).
noun
zootomy
Joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped; corresponds to the human knee
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) to die by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.
Used this way, stifle 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
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Forceful prevention.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.