garrote

variants or garotte
Definition of garrotenext
as in to strangle
to keep (someone) from breathing by exerting pressure on the windpipe the goons sent by the loan shark threatened to garrote the hero with his own necktie

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 garrote That means the Senate's only practical effect is adding another point at which oligarch lobbyists can garrote popular policy. Ryan Cooper, The Week, 29 Oct. 2021 Tony, unhindered by any sense of moral anguish, garrotes the man in broad daylight with a length of cable. Adam Wilson, Harper's magazine, 16 Sep. 2019 Sometimes the line between good writing and bad writing can be as thin as the piano wire with which a madman garrotes his victims. Laura Miller, Slate Magazine, 15 Aug. 2017 Last year, he was garroted by saw briars—the vicious inch-long thorns that lace the course—which left bleeding gashes across his neck. George Pendle, Esquire, 26 July 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for garrote
Verb
  • As Grace looks on in horror, her soon-to-be husband strangles Ursula and snaps her neck.
    Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026
  • At that point, HBM’s killer feature of extreme local bandwidth gets strangled by the comparatively slow links connecting all of these machines.
    Sha Rabii, Fortune, 19 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Billy Randolph had shaped them and how his death had altered their lives, responses came after long pauses and were choked with grief.
    Emerson Clarridge Updated March 27, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Mar. 2026
  • Or perhaps the team was shellshocked by the Netflix spectacle that delayed the game 20-something minutes and choked the field with fireworks smoke.
    Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • After the energy crisis of the 1970s, many countries leaned into diversified international trade and coordination as the solution, hoping that increasing the number of sources of supply would diminish any one actor’s ability to throttle the market.
    Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Oil giants like Saudi Arabia and Iraq slashed production as their exports have been throttled by the Hormuz closure.
    Jason Ma, Fortune, 23 Mar. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Garrote.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/garrote. Accessed 29 Mar. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on garrote

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster