Meaning

4 senses

  1. (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!

    ersticken, ersticken, würgen

    задыха́тьсяzadyxátʹsja, задохну́тьсяzadoxnútʹsja, души́тьdušítʹ

    задиха́тисяzadyxátysja, задихну́тисяzadyxnútysja, души́тиdušýty

    struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake

  2. (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.

    ersticken, ersticken

    задыха́тьсяzadyxátʹsja, задохну́тьсяzadoxnútʹsja, души́тьdušítʹ

    задиха́тисяzadyxátysja, задихну́тисяzadyxnútysja, души́тиdušýty

    be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen

  3. (ergative, figuratively)To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.

    I'm suffocating under this huge workload.

  4. (transitive)To destroy; to extinguish.

    to suffocate fire

Examples

79 sentences

  1. She suffocated him with a pillow.

    Вона задушила його подушкою.

    ruОна задушила его подушкой.

    deSie hat ihn mit einem Kissen erstickt.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. It looked like you were suffocating.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Tom suffocated Mary with a feather pillow.

    ruТом задушил Мэри перьевой подушкой.

    deTom erstickte Mary mit einem Daunenkissen.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Tom suffocated Mary with a plastic bag.

    deTom erstickte Maria mit einer Plastiktüte.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. I thought I was going to suffocate on the crowded train.

    ruЯ думал, что задохнусь в переполненном поезде.

    deIch dachte, ich würde in diesem überfüllten Zug ersticken.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

7 languages
Українська
By meaning 2
(intransitive) to suffer from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body:
(transitive) to cause someone to suffer severely reduced oxygen supply to his body:
Русский
By meaning 2
(intransitive) to suffer from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body:
(transitive) to cause someone to suffer severely reduced oxygen supply to his body:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
(intransitive) to suffer from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body:
(transitive) to cause someone to suffer severely reduced oxygen supply to his body:

Origin

The adjective is first attested in the 1420s, the verb in 1526; from Middle English suffoc

The adjective is first attested in the 1420s, the verb in 1526; from Middle English suffocat(e) (“deprived of air, suffocated”), borrowed from Latin suffōcātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin suffōcō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from sub- (“under, up to”) + fōx (“throat”, oblique stem in fōc-). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

suffocates, suffocating, suffocated, suffocated
Base formsuffocate · to suffocate
3rd person singularsuffocates
Present participlesuffocating
Past simplesuffocated
Past participlesuffocated

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theysuffocate
he, she, itsuffocates

Past simpleLesson

all personssuffocated

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave suffocated
he, she, ithas suffocated

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill suffocate

Synonyms

7 synonyms
To suffer from reduced oxygen:chokeB1asphyxiate
To be overwhelmed:drownB1
To die from insufficient oxygen:stifle
To reduce oxygen supply:smother
Close in meaning

Word family

6 related words
Relatedasphyxiasuffocationsuffocative
Derivedsmothercatesuffocatorunsuffocate

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
sufficientB1sufficientlyB2suffixB1suffragesugarA1
suffocate — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto