Synonyms of stifling

stifling 1 of 2

adjective

as in close

lacking fresh air

the lecture hall was stifling until we opened several windows

Synonyms & Similar Words

• close
• suffocating
• stuffy
• breathless
• thick
• oppressive
• heavy
• airless
• unventilated
• fuggy

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• breezy
• airy
• refreshing
• sweet
• bracing
• reviving
• brisk
• restorative
• unstuffy
• invigorating
• ventilated
• refreshed

stifling

2 of 2

verb

present participle of stifle

1

as in strangling

to be or cause to be killed by lack of breathable air

unfortunately, the robbers were stifled when they got trapped in the airless bank vault

Synonyms & Similar Words

• strangling
• choking
• suffocating
• smothering
• drowning
• destroying
• asphyxiating
• throttling
• slaying
• garroting
• dispatching
• felling
• doing in
• croaking

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• breathing
• inhaling
• inspiring
• expiring
• exhaling
• reviving
• resuscitating

2

as in suppressing

to refrain from openly showing or uttering

stifled a yawn

Synonyms & Similar Words

• suppressing
• swallowing
• repressing
• controlling
• smothering
• strangling
• managing
• choking (back)
• containing
• holding back
• submerging
• sinking
• pocketing
• curbing
• governing
• quelling
• quashing
• checking
• muffling
• bridling
• squelching
• bottling up

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• expressing
• venting
• releasing
• taking out
• unleashing
• loosing

3

as in muffling

to deaden the sound of

he stifled a cough with his hand

Synonyms & Similar Words

• muffling
• muting
• insulating
• softening
• padding
• mellowing
• baffling
• toning (down)
• smothering
• dampening
• subduing
• soundproofing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• increasing
• deepening
• enhancing
• strengthening
• unmuffling
• heightening
• amplifying
• boosting
• magnifying
• stepping up

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of stifling

Adjective

For all the deserved talk about the Knicks’ dynamic offense, the defense has been far more stifling than their reputation suggests. —Fred Katz, New York Times, 15 May 2026

Her mother, who had a staid upbringing in California, came to New York in the early sixties looking for someplace more diverse and less stifling. —Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2026

Verb

The open-source software movement, partly a political project to protect the freedom to tinker and prevent corporate oligarchies from stifling innovation, would become a cornerstone of the technology industry. —Jonathan Weber, Fortune, 19 May 2026

If the temperature in your home is stifling, stay low to the ground. —Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 18 May 2026

This aesthetic approach is in sharp contrast to the film’s otherwise crisp digital images, courtesy of the Alexa 35, which render Las Cruces into a lyrical, longing landscape evoking entire histories, in all its deep blues and soft yet stifling oranges. —Lé Baltar, IndieWire, 17 May 2026

By gatekeeping who can participate in fashion’s future, the industry is effectively stifling its own ability to survive. —Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 15 May 2026

Expected among those reforms will be changes at the National Film Institute (NFI), the powerful body that controls film financing in the country, and whose politicization under the Orbán regime was blamed by many Hungarian filmmakers for stifling critical voices. —Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 15 May 2026

By optimizing for today, AI may be stifling tomorrow’s breakthroughs. —Syed Ahmad, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026

Despite the summer heat, the windows were often closed to keep out horseflies and the long ears of loyalist spies, so the air inside was stifling and pungent. —Literary Hub, 13 May 2026

Birds eat and digest the seeds, then the plant grows in dense stands and blocks sunlight from reaching other young plants, overcrowding or stifling other species. —Sarah Everett, The Spruce, 11 May 2026