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Glite Dictionary
🥫 Completely covered 🤐 Held back
smothered

smothered

6.2
A sound, action, or feeling that is soft and held back so it does not fully show
  • adjective
  • /ˈsmʌðərd/
translation icon : reprimido
  • He felt smothered by the expectations placed on him by his family.

Examples

  • And time and time again I have crushed and smothered these longings.

  • He's trying to imbue her with some sense of awareness and sometime to the point where it's smothering for her and she's kind of saying, hey, hey, she pushing back.

  • Her smothered emotions made it difficult for her to connect with others.

  • The child struggled to express his feelings when they were smothered by anxiety.

Synonyms

repressed
vssmothered
6 6.5

Having strong feelings that a person keeps inside and does not show to others

is about being stopped from full expression in the moment
stifled
vssmothered
5.8

Held back so it is not fully shown or said

is restrained without focusing on the effort or struggle
suppressed
vssmothered
5.7

Kept secret on purpose so people do not know about it

is about preventing full release rather than deliberate hiding
strangled
vssmothered
6.7

A voice or sound made with difficulty and a tight, choked tone

is restrained generally rather than produced painfully or choked
quelled
vssmothered
6.9

Calm and under control after being stopped, often by force

is focused on prevented expression, not specifically on forceful control
squelched
vssmothered
7.8

Stops a rumor or protest from continuing, often by force

is about being held back without the sudden, final ending
quenched
vssmothered
6.3

A feeling, protest, or movement that loses power and ends

is about prevention of expression rather than total ending

Antonyms

unrestrained
13 5.7

Not held back and showing strong feelings or actions

expressed
3.2

Words or actions make it clear

How Suppressed

choked
4.3
smothered
6.2
stifled
5.8
subdued
11 5.5
muted
10 4.2

Surface Forms

smothered positive

Morphology

smothered = smother (semi-transparent) = smother + ed

The adjectival sense 'restrained or suppressed' is a figurative extension of 'to smother', so the relation is understandable but somewhat metaphorical.

Etymology

Smothered comes from an old verb meaning 'to choke' or 'to stop something from coming out'. A helpful image is holding your mouth to stop a laugh or a sob, which shows why smothered also means a sound or feeling that is held back and not fully shown.