smothering
1
6.7
- adjective
- /ˈsmʌðərɪŋ/
:
sofocante
- On the hottest days of summer, the air can become smothering, making it hard to breathe.
Examples
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Giant Groves of gymnosperm stretched in dense clumps among the rooftops of the submerged buildings, smothering the white rectangular outlines.
-
You know, so it's, it's a kind of smothering of everything that goes on around.
-
"It was dark and hot and smothering, and I couldn't breathe, and then I was falling, twisting, and tumbling and falling, and there was no air to breathe!
Fiction book (1994) -
The room felt smothering due to the lack of ventilation and the heat from the sun.
-
She found the smothering humidity unbearable as she walked through the tropical forest.
Synonyms
29
3.4
Too warm and without fresh air
13
2.7
A room with little fresh air that feels uncomfortable to breathe in
4
5.3
Very hot, close air that makes it hard to breathe
1
5.1
Making it hard to breathe because the air is hot, close, or not fresh
1
5.0
Making it hard to breathe because of smoke, dust, heat, or lack of fresh air
1
4.8
Weather that is very hot and humid makes you sweat and feel uncomfortable
Air that is very close and makes it hard to breathe
Hot, heavy air that makes it hard to breathe
Hot, humid air that feels close and stuffy
A very hot and humid feeling that makes you uncomfortable
Antonyms
How Suffocating
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Smothering comes from the old verb smother, which meant 'to cover' someone so they could not breathe. Think of a heavy blanket or thick smoke that sits over you and makes the air close, and that image explains why smothering describes heat, smoke, or air that makes breathing hard.