as in strangled
to cause (someone) to stop breathing and often to become unconscious and die
The murder victim was asphyxiated.
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Recent Examples of asphyxiated
The petition, which was granted by a federal judge, cited reports alleging that guards at the facility choked and asphyxiated Campos.
—
Armando Garcia, ABC News, 10 June 2026
The 10-mile-high plume asphyxiated around 200,000 residents but also preserved the city in remarkable detail.
—Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 3 June 2026
The fine ash preserved the site but asphyxiated 200,000 residents.
—Hanna Wickes, Sacbee.com, 3 June 2026
Tarrant County prosecutors said Busby and an accomplice abducted Crane, 77, from a grocery store parking lot, robbed her and then asphyxiated her with duct tape, wrapping 14 layers around her face.
—Erik Ortiz, NBC news, 20 May 2026
Like being asphyxiated in a ball pit filled with candy, the experience of watching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is at once kaleidoscopic and nerve-wracking.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2026
The vocals mutate like asphyxiated Wingdings and aborted thoughts.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 17 Dec. 2025
Teddy is found, bound and asphyxiated, in Cooper’s bedroom, which Aggie cannot bear to enter.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2025
She had been asphyxiated and then mutilated after her death.
—Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 27 Nov. 2025
Armando Garcia, ABC News, 10 June 2026
The 10-mile-high plume asphyxiated around 200,000 residents but also preserved the city in remarkable detail.
—Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 3 June 2026
The fine ash preserved the site but asphyxiated 200,000 residents.
—Hanna Wickes, Sacbee.com, 3 June 2026
Tarrant County prosecutors said Busby and an accomplice abducted Crane, 77, from a grocery store parking lot, robbed her and then asphyxiated her with duct tape, wrapping 14 layers around her face.
—Erik Ortiz, NBC news, 20 May 2026
Like being asphyxiated in a ball pit filled with candy, the experience of watching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is at once kaleidoscopic and nerve-wracking.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2026
The vocals mutate like asphyxiated Wingdings and aborted thoughts.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 17 Dec. 2025
Teddy is found, bound and asphyxiated, in Cooper’s bedroom, which Aggie cannot bear to enter.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2025
She had been asphyxiated and then mutilated after her death.
—Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 27 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for asphyxiated
Verb
-
After the brothers were arrested in Romania, the journalists Jamie Tahsin and Matt Shea reported on the women’s stories for Vice News, and another woman said that she, too, had been strangled and raped by Tate in 2014.—
Heidi Blake,
New Yorker,
8 June 2026
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Angel Guzman, 31, of Los Angeles, was among the four members of the gang MS-13 convicted of murdering three people, one of whom was kidnapped, strangled, attacked with machetes and dismembered, in the Angeles National Forest, federal authorities said.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
7 June 2026
Verb
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Tshabalala’s thunderous strike sends the ball rocketing into the top right corner of Óscar Pérez’s net and fires the tournament hosts ahead, as the blaring drone of vuvuzelas is – somehow – drowned out by a roar heard across the country.—
Jack Bantock,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
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Initially, investigators from the Placentia Police Department believed that the boy drowned while Beisel left him unattended to grab some soap for a bath.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
9 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Asphyxiated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asphyxiated. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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