suffocated 1 of 2

past tense of suffocate
1
as in strangled
to be or cause to be killed by lack of breathable air the law requires the owner of a discarded refrigerator to remove its door so that a child won't get trapped inside and suffocate

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2
as in throttled
to keep (someone) from breathing by exerting pressure on the windpipe temporarily suffocated by the seat belt

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3
as in vomited
to experience complete or partial blockage of the windpipe suffocating in the thick, black smoke of the burning building

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suffocated

2 of 2

adjective

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 suffocated
Verb
The videos, which were shared online, showed baby monkeys being crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled and mutilated. Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer, 1 Oct. 2025 Additionally, soil that is constantly wet can become compacted, which the horticulturist says could reduce its ability to drain properly leading to suffocated roots that are unable to expand properly. Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 18 Sep. 2025 Since Ibsen wrote the suffocated aristocrat with her poison tongue into existence 135 years ago, titans of theatre have grappled with Gabler. Ben Jureidini, Them., 22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Denver comes into the game with a fantastic defense that completely suffocated Jake Browning and the Cincinnati Bengals. Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2025 Travis Decker, the man believed to have suffocated and abandoned his three young daughters at a campsite in the Washington state wilderness, is dead, Chelan County authorities said Thursday. Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 25 Sep. 2025 Decker had been the subject of a three-month manhunt after his daughters were found suffocated in June at a campground near Leavenworth. Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025 From there, the Tigers leaned on a defense that suffocated South Carolina’s run game and delivered key stops in the final minutes. Zach Sweet, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2025 Some seventeen hundred people suffocated, along with more than three thousand livestock. Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025 Authorities determined that the three girls had suffocated to death. Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2025 In each case, an entire research culture was starved by censorship and suffocated by unrelenting suspicion, surveillance, and threat of arrest or worse. Scott Montgomery, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025 Black business districts, starved of capital and infrastructure, began to collapse — not because of a lack of innovation or ambition, but because they were suffocated financially. Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 31 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for suffocated
Verb
  • Scott was convicted of participating in the 1981 murder of Larry Miner, who was tied up, beaten, strangled and stabbed.
    Tony Saavedra, Oc Register, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Kruse said Hoffman likely died within minutes of being strangled with a paracord, The Gazette reports.
    KC Baker, PEOPLE, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • In 2019, suspecting one of their sons of vandalism, San Diego County sheriff’s deputies burst into the Najarros’ Vista home without a warrant, then punched, choked, fired a Taser gun at and threatened to shoot different members of the family before arresting them all, the family said in a lawsuit.
    Lucas Robinson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Sep. 2025
  • The Mets, in the nation’s largest market, won the offseason but choked during the regular season.
    Barry M. Bloom, Sportico.com, 29 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Max urinated and vomited on himself, went into cardiac arrest and ultimately, lost consciousness during his prolonged restraint.
    Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 9 Aug. 2025
  • Eugene is less convinced of the wisdom of this endeavor, and his idea for nourishing the Clockwork Boy — feeding him honey — is projectile-vomited back in his face.
    Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • China began conducting the contentious patrols after a February 2024 accident in which two Chinese fishermen drowned near Kinmen while fleeing from Taiwan’s coast guard.
    Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
  • The 46-year-old former country star and 42-year-old actress suffered a tragedy in 2019 when their 3-year-old son River drowned in the pool outside their Texas home.
    Ashley Hume, FOXNews.com, 28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • With all these no-shows this year, shouldn’t City Hall reach out in the spirit of bipartisanship and extend an invite to the extinguished solon Tran?
    Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • The story of damped harmonic systems goes back to 1900, when British physicist Horace Lamb built a simple mathematical model of a particle vibrating inside a solid.
    Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 16 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Suffocated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/suffocated. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.

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