suffocate

Verb

• struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake
  • he swallowed a fishbone and gagged
    

• feel uncomfortable for lack of fresh air
  • The room was hot and stuffy and we were suffocating
    

• be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen
  • The child suffocated under the pillow
    

• suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of
  • His job suffocated him
    

• become stultified, suppressed, or stifled
  • He is suffocating--living at home with his aged parents in the small village
    

• impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
  • The foul air was slowly suffocating the children
    

• 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
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  gag , choke , strangle , stifle , asphyxiate , smother