as in to choke
to keep (someone) from breathing by exerting pressure on the windpipe I was so angry at what he was saying that I could have throttled him!

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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 throttle Lockdowns throttled economic activity and squeezed tax revenue, while public spending surged as governments tried to protect the most vulnerable. Editorial, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025 View gallery - 6 images Californian e-mobility outfit Viribus has launched a new electric trike family, with tasty specs like a 1,200-W peak motor on offer for pedaling or throttling up inclines, as well as dual shocks, rear differential, and a two-step folding design. New Atlas, 17 Oct. 2025 Dončić needed a center, someone who could throttle to the basket and finish after arriving. Fred Katz, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025 Just half a year earlier, in March 2024, a landslide in the Trou sans Fond had ruptured all three cables, throttling or even blacking out the internet in Côte d’Ivoire and 12 other countries. Samanth Subramanian, The Dial, 14 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for throttle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for throttle
Verb
  • During the previous school year, the boy strangled and choked a teacher and pulled up a female classmate’s dress and touched her inappropriately on the school playground, the lawsuit claims.
    Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
  • The figure of Achilles, a warrior who singlehandedly choked a river with dead enemies before taking on the river god himself, provided a model for Alexander the Great and persists in contemporary popular entertainment, political speech, and military culture in celebrations of shock and awe.
    Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • China, in turn, imposed new strangling restrictions on the export of seven rare earth minerals.
    Mira Rapp-Hooper, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
  • The victim that day was 55-year-old Anna Elza Slesers, who was found strangled to death in her Boston apartment.
    Jane LaCroix, PEOPLE, 27 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Throttle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/throttle. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025.

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