1
as in to choke
to be or cause to be killed by lack of breathable air
the gull got tangled in a piece of fishing line on the beach and was strangled
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
3
as in to stifle
to refrain from openly showing or uttering
strangled a gasp of surprise upon hearing the news
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of strangle
As Grace looks on in horror, her soon-to-be husband strangles Ursula and snaps her neck.
—
Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026
In early January 2025, police were called to the Aliquippa VFW when Ours was accused of repeatedly punching and strangling another man, later identified as Preston Coleman.
—Mike Darnay, CBS News, 17 Mar. 2026
Shirley allegedly admitted to entering the home, but said his friend was the one who strangled the girl, according to court documents.
—Robert A. Cronkleton
march 17, Kansas City Star, 17 Mar. 2026
Jorge Landeros, 56, was sentenced to 25 years in prison more than a decade after reportedly fatally beating and strangling a 52-year-old American University accounting professor in her Maryland home.
—Arkansas Online, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for strangle
Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026
In early January 2025, police were called to the Aliquippa VFW when Ours was accused of repeatedly punching and strangling another man, later identified as Preston Coleman.
—Mike Darnay, CBS News, 17 Mar. 2026
Shirley allegedly admitted to entering the home, but said his friend was the one who strangled the girl, according to court documents.
—Robert A. Cronkleton
march 17, Kansas City Star, 17 Mar. 2026
Jorge Landeros, 56, was sentenced to 25 years in prison more than a decade after reportedly fatally beating and strangling a 52-year-old American University accounting professor in her Maryland home.
—Arkansas Online, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for strangle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for strangle
Verb
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Billy Randolph had shaped them and how his death had altered their lives, responses came after long pauses and were choked with grief.—
Emerson Clarridge
Updated March 27,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
28 Mar. 2026
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Or perhaps the team was shellshocked by the Netflix spectacle that delayed the game 20-something minutes and choked the field with fireworks smoke.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Academic journals struggled to put out issues, stifled by high printing costs and staff layoffs, scrounging for enough articles to fill their pages and paying subscribers to read them.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
1 Apr. 2026
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There are those, however, who do not see regulation as a stifling force.—
Francesca Cassidy,
Fortune,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The Wave have been suffocating teams defensively, and that continued on Saturday night, with Chicago not recording a shot until the 70th minute.—
Fernando Ramirez,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
29 Mar. 2026
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Today, two small new volcanoes are growing out of its bay, and another one called Kolumbo — capable of producing fearsome tsunamis and clouds of suffocating gases — lurks underwater just offshore.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The San Bernardino County Fire Department tested new technology on Monday designed to help suppress fires by using sound waves.—
Joy Benedict,
CBS News,
31 Mar. 2026
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Acknowledge anxiety, sadness or grief with openness, instead of trying to suppress those feelings or fueling them with harsh self-criticism.—
J. David Creswell,
The Conversation,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
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But UConn’s smothering defense forced five turnovers against the junior guard and limited the rest of her team to just 30 points.—
Emily Adams,
Hartford Courant,
29 Mar. 2026
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In the West, a smothering heat dome moved east after almost two weeks of record March temperatures; four spots in Arizona and California hit 112 degrees, and dozens of locations set heat records all the way to Pennsylvania and South Carolina.—
Robert Abitbol,
USA Today,
28 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The agency said metal bristles can break off, stick to grill grates and be swallowed, potentially lodging in the throat or digestive tract and causing internal injuries.—
Fernando Cervantes Jr,
USA Today,
27 Mar. 2026
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In Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 film Modern Times, a factory worker struggles to keep pace with an ever-accelerating assembly line—until the machine swallows him whole.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The Project’s participants were instructed to fight one another and endure simulated drowning, among other humiliations and discomforts, while remaining awake for most of three days.—
Charles Bethea,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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Authorities alleged Goldberg followed her and tried to drown her before a bystander intervened.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
29 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Strangle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/strangle. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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