as in strangles
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 Synonyms for asphyxiates
Verb
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Mostly, though, Boland strangles batters with his suffocating and deadly-accurate line and length.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026 -
What starts as an innocent father/daughter college visit takes a shocking turn when Tony brutally strangles a Mob turncoat.—
Dan Snierson,
Entertainment Weekly,
27 Dec. 2025
Verb
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First into his life comes Jessie involved in a shipwreck with her uncle, a past colleague of Mason’s, who drowns in a vicious storm and almost takes Jessie down with him before she is heroically rescued from near death by Mason, who brings her out of the drink and then back to life.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
28 Jan. 2026
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What should be a fast minimum viable product (MVP) becomes a bloated prototype that delays launch and drowns out real user feedback.—
Renae Gregoire,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Asphyxiates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asphyxiates. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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