How to Use smother in a Sentence

smother

1 of 2 verb

• She smothered the fire with a blanket.
• He tried to smother her with a pillow.
• Piles of leaves can smother the grass.
  — Lauren David, Southern Living, 27 Sep. 2025
• If roots are buried too deeply, they can be smothered.
  — Beth Botts, Chicago Tribune, 25 Apr. 2026
• Too much weight will compact the soil and may smother the grass.
  — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 21 Jan. 2026
• Too much weight will compact the soil and may smother the grass.
  — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 29 Nov. 2025
• The heat in the car is like an aunt who does not stop smothering us.
  — Literary Hub, 18 May 2026
• Now the earth is being smothered as fires rage across the planet.
  — David Shribman, BostonGlobe.com, 6 July 2023
• Mulch fallen leaves so that thick layers do not smother the grass.
  — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 21 Oct. 2025
• If a kitchen fire does start, first try to smother the flames with a pot lid or cookie sheet.
  — oregonlive, 2 Nov. 2021
• This is not a deep and pure love — this is clutching and smothering.
  — Amy Dickinson, Washington Post, 1 Oct. 2023
• Over time, it was smothered by sand brought in to replenish the beach.
  — Greg Allen, NPR, 21 Oct. 2025
• Its fish was muddy and, worse, it was smothered in tartar sauce.
  — Tim Carman, Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2024
• Grass doesn’t like being smothered.
  — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 16 Oct. 2025
• Sexyy tries to ride the beat with ad-libs but gets smothered by the arrangement.
  — Stephen Kearse, Pitchfork, 21 Apr. 2026
• There’s no lawn to be smothered by two feet of piled up, soaking wet winter leaves.
  — Paul Cappiello, Louisville Courier Journal, 17 Oct. 2025
• These clumps can smother grass and promote disease.
  — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 24 Apr. 2026
• Don’t smother the crown, and remove the mulch before new growth emerges in the spring.
  — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 6 Nov. 2025
• Sarah has a pillow and is smothering a woman whom she’s caught in the bed.
  — Elliot Ackerman, WIRED, 12 Feb. 2024
• The match built to a hot tag tonight Cena as the heels smothered Cody.
  — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025
• But they were smothered this time by the physical Wild.
  — Joe Smith, New York Times, 10 May 2026
• But now they got broken into six smothering rooms, or ten, or maybe a dozen.
  — Literary Hub, 27 Apr. 2026
• By this time, that same black cloud was starting to smother Lahaina.
  — Joshua Partlow, John Farrell, Brady Dennis, Brianna Sacks and Joanna Slater, The Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Aug. 2023
• Like the spring game, he was smothered by the pass rush on obvious throwing downs.
  — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 6 Sep. 2025
• It is also designed to be oversized, but it’s cut in a way that doesn’t smother the body.
  — Robb Report Studio, Robb Report, 17 Oct. 2023
• Plants grow rapidly in spring, smothering weeds and feeding the soil.
  — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 9 May 2026
• In extreme cases, the piles of clippings can smother turf.
  — Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 Apr. 2026
• Rake most of them off the grass, because a matted layer of whole leaves can smother the grass plants.
  — Beth Botts, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2022
• The crispy side is smothered in the same poblano queso from the new menu item and topped with shredded cheddar cheese.
  — Antonia Debianchi, Peoplemag, 25 Oct. 2023
• The oils smother the eggs and larvae of many insects and decrease problems down the line.
  — oregonlive, 17 Jan. 2022

smother

2 of 2 noun

• Then mulch with leaves and smother the new plants that might try to emerge.
  — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 22 June 2023
• They have been brainwashed to think that leaves smother lawns.
  — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 1 Oct. 2020
• Sauté slices with duck breast; add to a pork roast or smother apples and sauerkraut with some game sausages.
  — Kim Sunée, Anchorage Daily News, 1 Oct. 2020
• The pieces knit together to form a cast iron surface that sheds water, smothers weeds and holds up for a long time.
  — Paul Cappiello, Louisville Courier Journal, 6 Mar. 2026
• Smothers, who lived in the unit block of Osborne Road, was pronounced dead at the scene.
  — David Anderson, The Aegis, 25 Aug. 2017
• If either smothers the grass for long periods, this can compact soil and lead to mold problems.
  — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 21 Jan. 2026
• All of these items promised to ward off, murder, smother or otherwise expunge my pest problem.
  — Jessica Roy, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2021
• At Dichos, the tortillas were fresh and didn't appear to be dipped, but rather topped with a smother of bean sauce.
  — Emma Balter, Chron, 12 Aug. 2022
• His size and strength help impede the early stages of a route and smother possession throws underneath.
  — Scott Horner, The Indianapolis Star, 19 Apr. 2023
• Invasive species smother out the state’s iconic flora and fauna.
  — Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 13 Mar. 2026
• The invasive species smothers native plants and serves as tinder for wildfires in a state already ravaged by blazes.
  — Julie Watson, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 June 2023
• Defenses were there to smother ball carriers, with no fear of a receiver stretching the field.
  — Cam Inman, Mercury News, 23 Jan. 2026
• Will years of oak leaves accumulating on the soil smother Asian jasmine and keep its roots from grabbing the ground?
  — Neil Sperry, San Antonio Express-News, 26 Mar. 2021
• Because these rampant vines smother, strangle, crush, and destroy everything around them.
  — Steve Bender, Southern Living, 9 Aug. 2025
• The 40-minute mindset, the smother-ous defense, the varied scoring options.
  — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 16 Mar. 2018
• Algae clump on the surface in smelly mats, smother native aquatic vegetation with slime or grow along the bottom in hairy, green strands.
  — Cynthia Barnett, Discover Magazine, 25 Feb. 2015
• Feel free to add more cabbage to smother in the gravy; the recipe will accommodate as much as double without increasing the amount of tomato.
  — Jim Webster, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2023
• They have also been identified in firefighting foams that are designed to quickly smother liquid fuel fires.
  — Alexa Gagosz, BostonGlobe.com, 25 May 2023
• Mazda's all-wheel-drive system is quick to smother wheelspin, but a hard launch can elicit a tortured bark from the front tires before the system diverts torque rearward.
  — Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 20 Nov. 2020
• Excessive moisture smothers and kills roots, leading to discolored and dying foliage.
  — Debbie Arrington, sacbee, 20 Oct. 2017
• This allows the control-arm suspensions to smother potholes, leaving the ride uncannily smooth.
  — Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 24 Nov. 2020
• And Beverly's going to be that overbearing smother turned into an overbearing grandsmother.
  — Gerrad Hall, EW.com, 30 Aug. 2022
• Neither of these selections are for those who shy away from spice, however, the intense heat managed to highlight, rather than smother, the pork and the shrimp – an impressive feat, given the level of heat.
  — Dahlia Ghabour, The Courier-Journal, 7 Aug. 2021
• So all Mack did was use his comic book power and explosion to blow past Fulton and smother quarterback Deshaun Watson in the end zone.
  — Dan Wiederer, chicagotribune.com, 13 Dec. 2020
• Several players stepped forward to smother Sacramento on Sunday.
  — Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Apr. 2023
• One of them ignores her and the other smothers her, but these female relationships wind up being the most foundational of any of Waldo’s interactions.
  — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 22 Jan. 2026
• Alexander Smith expected to be deep into his senior season by now, helping Wisconsin’s defense smother opponents.
  — Jeff Potrykus, Journal Sentinel, 12 Oct. 2022
• Spain then had Simon to thank for keeping them in the game, with the goalkeeper coming out quickly to smother substitute Domenico Berardi's effort.
  — Matias Grez, CNN, 6 July 2021
• Walker, a fourth-year pro, rushed for a game-high 135 yards as Seattle’s offense did enough to let its defense smother New England into submission.
  — David K. Li, NBC news, 9 Feb. 2026
• Pittsburgh’s smother-ous, Big Brother-ous encore crushing of Cincinnati Sunday was a speed bump in the supermarket parking lot.
  — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 16 Nov. 2020