An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.
SUFFOCATE
gag, choke, strangle, suffocate
(verb) struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake; “he swallowed a fishbone and gagged”
suffocate
(verb) feel uncomfortable for lack of fresh air; “The room was hot and stuffy and we were suffocating”
suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate
(verb) be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen; “The child suffocated under the pillow”
suffocate, choke
(verb) suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of; “His job suffocated him”
suffocate, choke
(verb) become stultified, suppressed, or stifled; “He is suffocating--living at home with his aged parents in the small village”
suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate, choke
(verb) impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of; “The foul air was slowly suffocating the children”
smother, asphyxiate, suffocate
(verb) deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing; “Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow”; “The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
suffocate (third-person singular simple present suffocates, present participle suffocating, simple past and past participle suffocated)
(ergative) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
(ergative) To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.
(ergative, figuratively) To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.
(transitive) To destroy; to extinguish.
Synonyms
• (To suffer from reduced oxygen): asphyxiate, choke
• (To die from insufficient oxygen): stifle, choke
• (To be overwhelmed): drown
• (To reduce oxygen supply): asphyxiate, choke, smother
• (To kill by deprivation of oxygen): asphyxiate, choke, stifle
• (To make weary with contact): smother
Adjective
suffocate (comparative more suffocate, superlative most suffocate)
(obsolete) Suffocated; choked.
Anagrams
• offuscate
Source: Wiktionary
Suf"fo*cate, a. Etym: [L. suffocatus, p.p. of suffocare to choke; sub under + fauces the throat. Cf. Faucal.]
Definition: Suffocated; choked. Shak.
Suf"fo*cate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Suffocated; p. pr. & vb. n. Suffocating.]
1. To choke or kill by stopping respiration; to stifle; to smother. Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate. Shak.
2. To destroy; to extinguish; as, to suffocate fire.
Suf"fo*cate, v. i.
Definition: To become choked, stifled, or smothered. "A swelling discontent is apt to suffocate and strangle without passage." collier.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
3 May 2025
DESIRABLE
(adjective) worth having or seeking or achieving; “a desirable job”; “computer with many desirable features”; “a desirable outcome”
Coffee Trivia
