smother

/'smʌðə/

Thân thiện

A firefighter uses a heavy blanket to smother a small campfire.

Definition

1. Verb (Transitive):

   • To suffocate or kill by depriving of air; to extinguish (a fire) by cutting off its oxygen supply.
   • To cover thickly or excessively; to envelop completely.
   • To suppress or conceal (an emotion, sound, or action).
   • To overwhelm someone with an excessive amount of something.

2. Noun:

   • A state of being stifled or suffocated.
   • A dense, suffocating cloud of smoke, dust, or other particles.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:

  • The firefighters used a blanket to smother the small kitchen fire.
  • She tried to smother her laughter during the serious meeting.
  • The chef smothered the steak in a rich mushroom gravy.
  • He felt smothered by his family's constant attention and expectations.

• Noun:

  • A smother of dust rose from the collapsed building.
  • The room was filled with a smother of smoke from the fireplace.

Advanced Usage

• "To smother someone/something with/in something": To cover or overwhelm completely.

  • The valley was smothered in a thick blanket of fog.
  • She smothered her children with affection.

• "To smother something out": To extinguish or suppress something completely.

  • The new regulations aim to smother out corruption in the department.

Variants and Related Words

• Smothery (adj): Tending to cause a smothering sensation; stifling.

  • The room was hot and smothery.

• Smotheration (n, informal): An act or instance of smothering.

  • The constant advice felt like a smotheration of his independence.

Synonyms

• Suffocate: To die or cause to die from lack of air.
• Stifle: To restrain or suppress (a sound, emotion, or action).
• Extinguish: To put out (a fire or light).
• Envelop: To surround and cover completely.
• Suppress: To prevent the development or expression of something.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Smother up: To conceal or cover up (a fact, scandal, etc.).
  • They tried to smother up the details of the incident.

Related Idioms

• To be smothered with kisses: To be kissed repeatedly and enthusiastically.

  • The grandmother smothered her grandchild with kisses.

• A smother of kindness: An overwhelming amount of kindness that can feel restrictive.

  • His hospitality was a smother of kindness that left us little room to breathe.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a stifling cloud of smoke
2. a confused multitude of things

Verb

1. deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion
   • smother fires
2. form an impenetrable cover over
   • the butter cream smothered the cake
3. conceal or hide
   • smother a yawn
   • muffle one's anger
   • strangle a yawn
4. 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
5. envelop completely
   • smother the meat in gravy

Từ đồng nghĩa

• clutter
• jumble
• muddle
• fuddle
• mare's nest
• welter
• put out
• stifle
• strangle
• muffle
• repress
• asphyxiate
• suffocate
• surround