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Glite Dictionary
🤐 To hold back 😵 To suffocate 🥞 To cover fully 🔥 To put out
to smother

to smother

26 6.4
To stop someone breathing by covering their nose and mouth
  • verb
  • /ˈsmʌðər/
  • NSFW
translation icon : asfixiar
  • But if anybody takes that baby away... I'll smother you in your sleep.
  • smother with a pillow
  • smother someone to death
  • smother a baby

That's why the cause of death was smothering after I left CC's room.

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Examples

  • The mother accidentally smothered her baby while trying to keep him warm.

  • I told him that you might have accidentally smothered her.

    The Other Woman (2010)

  • Yeah, she wanted us to smother you in your sleep.

    The Three Stooges (2012)

  • To smother me to death?

    The Kids Are All Right (2010)

  • I want you to know I smothered him because I love him.

    50/50 (2011)

  • You're going to smother yourself to death.

    Big Brown Eyes (1936)

  • Morgan felt a hand over his mouth, smothering him.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • A man wearing a cable installer's uniform is smothering her with a pillow.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • True story: A woman I know rolled over in her sleep and smothered hers.

    Blog text (30)

  • When Zimmerman started screaming for help, Martin attempted to smother him by placing his hands over Zimmerman's mouth and nose.

    Blog text (1)

Synonyms

to strangle
vsto smother
  • Offensive
209 6.2

To kill or injure someone by squeezing their throat and stopping breathing

refers to general deprivation of air rather than throat pressure
to suffocate
vsto smother
  • NSFW
81 6.1

To have no air to breathe or to stop someone from getting air

typically causes death by fully depriving air and preventing breathing
to asphyxiate
vsto smother
  • Specialized
13 9.3

To prevent a person or animal from breathing by taking away air

describes general air blockage often without chemical focus
to stifle
vsto smother
  • NSFW
7 6.6

To stop a person from breathing so they cannot get air

usually involves full deprivation often causing death rather than mild suppression
to strangulate
vsto smother
  • Offensive
9.6

To kill someone by squeezing their throat so they cannot breathe

does not require throat compression and instead blocks air by other means

Antonyms

to breathe
∞ 1.0

To take air into the lungs and let it out

Idioms

to smother one's anger
  • Informal
7.5

To stop yourself from showing angry feelings

to smother with love
  • Informal
7.0

To give someone so much care and affection that they feel overwhelmed

How Suffocating

to strangle
  • Offensive
209 6.2
to asphyxiate
  • Specialized
13 9.3
to smother
  • NSFW
26 6.4
to suffocate
  • NSFW
81 6.1
to choke
  • NSFW
264 3.7

Surface Forms

smother infinitive
smothered past
smothered past participle
smothering present participle
smothers third person singular

Etymology

Smother comes from the old sense of covering someone so they cannot 'breathe', like putting something tightly over the face. That's why to smother a person means to stop their air and make them suffocate.