1
as in to strangle
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
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2
as in to suppress
to refrain from openly showing or uttering
stifled a yawn
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of stifle
Their stifling second-half defense helped KU improve to 11-3 (2-1 Big 12) entering Saturday’s game at Cincinnati (10-4, 0-3).
Tipoff for the Kansas-Cincinnati game at Fifth Third Arena is 1 p.m. Central Time, with a livestream on ESPN+.
—
Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 11 Jan. 2025
This archetype is essential in a world where assumptions often go unchallenged, stifling creativity and growth.
—Chris Schembra, Rolling Stone, 10 Jan. 2025
Palestinian citizens’ rights For Palestinian citizens of Israel, the heavy-handed police stifling of dissent is nothing new.
—Dina Kraft, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Jan. 2025
Playing against a team that is believed to be interested in his services, Pettersson, an unrestricted free agent this summer, played a stifling game.
—Josh Yohe, The Athletic, 9 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for stifle 
Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 11 Jan. 2025
This archetype is essential in a world where assumptions often go unchallenged, stifling creativity and growth.
—Chris Schembra, Rolling Stone, 10 Jan. 2025
Palestinian citizens’ rights For Palestinian citizens of Israel, the heavy-handed police stifling of dissent is nothing new.
—Dina Kraft, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Jan. 2025
Playing against a team that is believed to be interested in his services, Pettersson, an unrestricted free agent this summer, played a stifling game.
—Josh Yohe, The Athletic, 9 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for stifle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stifle
Verb
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In 2022, Kayla, a Maryland resident, was brutally raped, strangled with a phone cord and murdered in Harford County by MS-13 gang member and four-time murderer Walter Javier Martinez.—
Dan Cox,
Baltimore Sun,
15 Jan. 2025
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So if someone is strangled to death in the basement of a florist shop in Staten Island, that is a windfall in terms of keeping reader attention.—
Marco della Cava,
USA TODAY,
14 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Demographers have found little, if any, evidence that EWIs harm or suppress the employment or wages of local people.—
Gordon G. Chang,
Newsweek,
26 Jan. 2025
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To keep shooting, Pasha must suppress his rage and only dares to carry out small protests — such as playing the U.S. national anthem sung by Lady Gaga — but those are enough to earn him suspicion.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
25 Jan. 2025
Verb
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However, while the snow sometimes muffles the thunder, the lightning can more easily be seen.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA TODAY,
7 Jan. 2025
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His low desk was shoved into the corner furthest from the windows, as if Gussow had wanted to muffle the city’s distractions.—
Adriane Quinlan,
Curbed,
27 Dec. 2024
Verb
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An artists’ livelihood lost to flames That same pungent, chemical smell had choked the air just a few miles away as the fire kept racing before dawn on January 8 through west Altadena, sending embers zipping through the air like bullets.—
Elizabeth Wolfe,
CNN,
17 Jan. 2025
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Brooks, a 43-year-old Black man, was punched, kicked, choked and manhandled in the Dec. 9 beating at Marcy Correctional Facility north of Utica.—
Joseph Wilkinson,
New York Daily News,
16 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The Bills swallowed $31 million in dead salary-cap space to be out of the Diggs business.—
Tim Graham,
The Athletic,
24 Jan. 2025
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Some nicotine from pouches will inevitably be ingested into the stomach when people swallow their saliva.—
Lauren J. Young,
Scientific American,
24 Jan. 2025
Verb
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So not counting out the Rams, but Philadelphia just has so many ways to beat you, and that Eagles defense is smothering.—
Sam Farmer,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Jan. 2025
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But can that smothering play hold up against playoff Patrick Mahomes (who had his best performance of the season in Week 17)?—
Hannah Vanbiber,
The Athletic,
14 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Few would lament the end of the country’s current government, especially those who have been repressed by it for 40 years.—
Richard Nephew,
Foreign Affairs,
2 Jan. 2025
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Donald Trump’s return to the presidency is expected to end four years of tight regulatory oversight (if not overreach, by some critics’ assessments), setting free the animal spirits repressed amid post-Peak Streaming pullbacks, strikes and other complications.—
David Bloom,
Forbes,
31 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Authorities say that the night before, New Year’s Eve 2020, Janks, then 36, drugged Merriman with pain and sleeping pills before fatally suffocating him.—
Liam Quinn,
People.com,
12 Jan. 2025
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Even with Heat star Jimmy Butler serving the second game of his seven-game suspension, the Heat’s defense was suffocating through three quarters.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
7 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Stifle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stifle. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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