throttling

noun

throt·​tling ˈthrät-liŋ 

ˈthrä-tᵊl-iŋ

plural throttlings

1

: the act or an instance of throttling something or someone: such as

a

: the suppression or prevention of an activity

… maintains that the dramatic relaxation of credit restrictions proposed by the Central Bank will inevitably result in hyperinflation, the throttling of economic reforms and the collapse of Western confidence in the Russian economy.

—Michael Dobbs

b

US, informal : a decisive defeat : rout

You missed an impressive, imposing 40-13 victory over Memphis … and a 61-17 throttling of FIU in the season opener.

—The Orlando Sentinel

2

: the activity or process of limiting the bandwidth available to users of an electronic communication systems (such as the Internet)

Slowing down data speeds after a customer reaches its monthly data limit is a common practice among internet service providers and cellular carriers that's known as throttling. Users can still access the cellular network for basic services like email or web browsing, but speeds are often too slow for activities like video streaming.

—Ryan Suppe

Examples of throttling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Democrats believed that repealing the rules would lead to disruptive throttling of internet traffic. —Lauren Feiner, The Verge, 3 Apr. 2024

Israel’s throttling of aid came into sharper focus Thursday when its military opened fire as desperate Palestinians gathered around food aid trucks in western Gaza City, according to eyewitnesses. —Tamara Qiblawi, CNN, 1 Mar. 2024

Remote workers are on the chopping block: The latest throttling of remote workers, revealed by a Live Data Technologies study and reported in the Wall Street Journal, found that remote workers were 35% more likely to have their jobs cut in 2023 than their in-office peers. —Emmy Lucas, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024

After the analysis had been published, X reversed the throttling on some sites. —Simon Hurtz, The Verge, 15 Sep. 2023

On Tuesday afternoon, hours after this story was first published, X began reversing the throttling on some of the sites, dropping the delay times back to zero. —Jeremy B. Merrill and Drew Harwell, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Aug. 2023

Alabama kicked off the 2023 football season in dominant fashion with a 56-7 throttling of the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, and a packed Bryant-Denny Stadium loved every second of it. —Ben Flanagan | [e-mail], al, 4 Sep. 2023

Impressive was a ready adjective for Delta's 63-41 throttling of Centerville on Feb. 28 in Indiana boys high school basketball action. —Indy Star Sports, The Indianapolis Star, 1 Mar. 2023

Benke scored a touchdown rushing, receiving and passing along with 245 passing yards to lead the Bluebirds to a 52-20 throttling of the Ryle Raiders at Highlands High School. —Evan Merrill, The Enquirer, 9 Sep. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined at sense 1