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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Recent Examples of stifle
The lawsuit claims the company abused its power as the nation’s biggest concert promoter to stifle competition, force fans to pay more and bully artists and venues into using its services.
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Allison Morrow, CNN, 10 Dec. 2024
But Jasmine, who had recently received her Green Card, still felt stifled.
—Abigail Adams, People.com, 10 Dec. 2024
The catalyst for the recent currency crisis seems relatively innocuous when compared to the already stifling international sanctions that preceded it.
—Elliott Goat, The Week Uk, theweek, 4 Dec. 2024
The suit alleges that Visa used its dominance to stifle the growth of existing competitors and prevent other firms from developing alternatives.
—Rocio Fabbro, Quartz, 4 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for stifle 
Allison Morrow, CNN, 10 Dec. 2024
But Jasmine, who had recently received her Green Card, still felt stifled.
—Abigail Adams, People.com, 10 Dec. 2024
The catalyst for the recent currency crisis seems relatively innocuous when compared to the already stifling international sanctions that preceded it.
—Elliott Goat, The Week Uk, theweek, 4 Dec. 2024
The suit alleges that Visa used its dominance to stifle the growth of existing competitors and prevent other firms from developing alternatives.
—Rocio Fabbro, Quartz, 4 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for stifle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stifle
Verb
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But for all the glamour that fills The Friday Afternoon Club, there’s a tragedy that anchors it: in 1982, the author’s sister Dominique was strangled.Annabel Gutterman, TIME, 10 Dec. 2024
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The pretty girl killed by a boyfriend, the C.E.O. shot on the street, the subway dancer strangled by the ex-marine.Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Harry is doing his best to keep Dexter from killing people, though Dex acknowledges that slicing into cadavers and taking hunting trips aren’t really cutting it in terms of suppressing his urges.Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 13 Dec. 2024
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His beautiful, distant mother, played by the French-Argentinean actress Bérénice Bejo, treats these outbursts as insurrections to be suppressed.Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 13 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Owners can do a number of things to relieve this type of anxiety in dogs, such as leaving a long-lasting chew toy with them when leaving and keeping the radio on to muffle outside noises.Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024
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Each earbud also includes a pair of microphones and Nothing’s latest noise-canceling technology (Clear Voice Technology 3.0) to help stop outside noises from muffling your voice during a call.Andrew Liszewski, The Verge, 24 Sep. 2024
Verb
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Are the older kids' toys, which could be choking hazards, out of reach of a young baby or toddler?Nicole Villalpando, Austin American-Statesman, 19 Dec. 2024
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The police chief added that 911 dispatchers are trained to talk children through difficult situations, including parents choking, CPR, and even giving birth.Michael Loria, USA TODAY, 17 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Cousins swallowed the sting of being benched less than a year after signing a four-year, $180 million contract to mentor Penix throughout the week, Penix said.Josh Kendall, The Athletic, 22 Dec. 2024
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My response: If the tournament expands, the vast majority of the extra bids will be swallowed up by the power-conference teams.Blake Toppmeyer, The Tennessean, 20 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Golden State smothered Minnesota to start the final quarter, holding the Wolves to one point in four minutes.Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 8 Dec. 2024
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Nothing says Christmas quite like a pecan waffle and smothered hash browns.Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 7 Dec. 2024
Verb
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The government repressed religious dissent (in particular, Catholicism) while unconscionably investing in slavery and colonization.Bob Blaisdell, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Dec. 2024
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With Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, Culkin pivots to a character who’s repressing his pain just as desperately but masks it with a life-of-the-tour-group energy that is both endearing and exhausting.Joe Reid, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Fantasmas is the other side of the coin of someone who has access to all the colors, but realizes that that feels suffocating somehow.Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2024
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Syria is a country where sectarian and social divides have been reinforced by war, and where the one common denominator was raw fear of a state whose suffocating security apparatus turned institutions into instruments of terror and abuse.Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Stifle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stifle. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.
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