garrote

variants or garotte
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

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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
  • Earlier this year, audio was released from 2022, where Majors admitted to having strangled his partner at the time.
    DeMicia Inman, VIBE.com, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Michael Tanzi, 48, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison for the April 2000 kidnapping and strangling death of Janet Acosta, a production worker at The Miami Herald.
    Alexandra Koch, FOXNews.com, 8 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Some of the aspiring stars who blew away the judges in the auditions round choked and failed to give their best showings, which led to the end of the road for standouts like Landynn Kennedy, Sam Sparks and Mikaela Bautista.
    KiMi Robinson, USA Today, 1 Apr. 2025
  • The move comes on the heels of the police report Stern filed claiming that a March 11 encounter at the Beverly Hills Hotel started out consensually but ended with Tate choking her nearly unconscious.
    Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 27 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • In the last few years, remote workers have been throttled, and work from home jobs are becoming harder to find.
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
  • In this view, progress is always being throttled by bottlenecks, which—to the relief of some people—will slow the integration of A.I. into our society.
    Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Garrote.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/garrote. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.

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