strangle

[ strang-guhl ]

verb (used with object)

, stran·gled, stran·gling.

1. to kill by squeezing the throat in order to compress the windpipe and prevent the intake of air, as with the hands or a tightly drawn cord.

   Synonyms: choke, throttle, garrote

2. to kill by stopping the breath in any manner; choke; stifle; suffocate.

   Synonyms: smother

3. to prevent the continuance, growth, rise, or action of; suppress:

   Censorship strangles a free press.

   Synonyms: muzzle, gag, repress, check

verb (used without object)

, stran·gled, stran·gling.

1. to be choked, stifled, or suffocated.

strangle

/ ˈstræŋɡəl /

verb

1. tr to kill by compressing the windpipe; throttle
2. tr to prevent or inhibit the growth or development of

   to strangle originality

3. tr to suppress (an utterance) by or as if by swallowing suddenly

   to strangle a cry

Other Words From

• strangler noun
• strangling·ly adverb
• un·strangled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of strangle¹

1250–1300; Middle English strangelen < Old French estrangler < Latin strangulāre < Greek strangalân, derivative of strangálē halter, akin to strangós twisted

Word History and Origins

Origin of strangle¹

C13: via Old French, ultimately from Greek strangalē a halter

Example Sentences

His first wicket, Abdullah Shafique’s tickle down the leg side detected on review, was a strangle and his next two were classical off-spin.

From BBC

“When I objected, two female officials started pulling my hair and beating me. I kept pleading with them to stop. But they dragged me through the corridor and one of them tried to strangle me. When I fought back, they tied my hands and legs and locked me up in a room,” she said, sobbing.

From BBC

She takes refuge on a bench near the fountain in the lot’s famed circular courtyard as she considers how the trio will be immortalized by Hollywood: Oliver as someone we all want to strangle and cuddle at the same time; Charles as everyone’s un-fun uncle with a grouchy turtle face; and Mabel as a traumatized, homeless and jobless mumbling millennial.

From Los Angeles Times

From the passionate response pieces that I had read, I was somewhat prepared for the eugenics-tinged genetic arguments that stain the text and the deeply clichéd tropes that strangle the film version, but I was not prepared for a stunningly major omission: the fact that though much of the 265 pages of the book and hour and 56 minutes of the movie are taken over by suicide attempts and domestic and substance abuse, neither one manages to grapple at all with mental health.

From Salon

"They thought to strangle us, to wipe us off the map. But we are an ancient people, a people of brave fighters. We stood up as one and we defended ourselves," he said.

From BBC

Related Words

• gag
• inhibit
• kill
• restrain
• smother
• suffocate