as in to strangle
to cause (someone) to stop breathing and often to become unconscious and die
The murder victim was asphyxiated.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of asphyxiate
In February 2023, a 23-month-old child in Oregon who was climbing on the back of the play kitchen asphyxiated after his shirt got caught on one of the hooks.
—
Melina Khan, USA Today, 1 Aug. 2025
Cartman then attempts and fails to asphyxiate himself — and Butters — in a car for the rest of the episode.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 24 July 2025
Spota was the working prosecutor on the case of Johnny Pius, a young boy who was found beaten and asphyxiated in his Smithtown, Long Island schoolyard in April 1979.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 28 Mar. 2025
That same year, a 42-year-old man asphyxiated during a donut eating contest.
—Paula Cohen, CBS News, 4 July 2023
See All Example Sentences for asphyxiate
Melina Khan, USA Today, 1 Aug. 2025
Cartman then attempts and fails to asphyxiate himself — and Butters — in a car for the rest of the episode.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 24 July 2025
Spota was the working prosecutor on the case of Johnny Pius, a young boy who was found beaten and asphyxiated in his Smithtown, Long Island schoolyard in April 1979.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 28 Mar. 2025
That same year, a 42-year-old man asphyxiated during a donut eating contest.
—Paula Cohen, CBS News, 4 July 2023
See All Example Sentences for asphyxiate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for asphyxiate
Verb
-
Fujita was 20 in 2013 when he was found guilty of strangling and stabbing his former high school girlfriend to death in Wayland.—
Matt Schooley,
CBS News,
8 Jan. 2026
-
Mostly, though, Boland strangles batters with his suffocating and deadly-accurate line and length.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
One villager has drowned in flash floods in the eastern province of Catanduanes, officials confirmed to the Associated Press, while another died in Catbalogan city in eastern Samar province after being pinned by debris from a collapsed home.—
Desiree Anello,
PEOPLE,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Even more poignant, however, is the Rosemary's Baby angle, where the innocence of childhood is drowned in blood and the notion that a young person reared in a loving environment should develop into a compassionate adult is perverted into unthinkable horror.—
Alan Bradley,
Space.com,
8 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Asphyxiate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asphyxiate. Accessed 10 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share