CHOKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does choke mean? 

• CHOKE (noun)
  The noun CHOKE has 2 senses:

1. a coil of low resistance and high inductance used in electrical circuits to pass direct current and attenuate alternating current

2. a valve that controls the flow of air into the carburetor of a gasoline engine

  Familiarity information: CHOKE used as a noun is rare.

• CHOKE (verb)
  The verb CHOKE has 14 senses:

1. breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion

2. be too tight; rub or press

3. wring the neck of

4. constrict (someone's) throat and keep from breathing

5. struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake

6. fail to perform adequately due to tension or agitation

7. check or slow down the action or effect of

8. become or cause to become obstructed

9. impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of

10. become stultified, suppressed, or stifled

11. suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of

12. pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life

13. reduce the air supply

14. cause to retch or choke

  Familiarity information: CHOKE used as a verb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHOKE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A coil of low resistance and high inductance used in electrical circuits to pass direct current and attenuate alternating current

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

choke; choke coil; choking coil

Hypernyms ("choke" is a kind of...):

coil (reactor consisting of a spiral of insulated wire that introduces inductance into a circuit)

Holonyms ("choke" is a part of...):

circuit; electric circuit; electrical circuit (an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A valve that controls the flow of air into the carburetor of a gasoline engine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("choke" is a kind of...):

valve (control consisting of a mechanical device for controlling the flow of a fluid)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "choke"):

automatic choke (a choke that automatically controls the flow of air to the carburetor)

Holonyms ("choke" is a part of...):

fuel system (equipment in a motor vehicle or aircraft that delivers fuel to the engine)

Derivation:

choke (reduce the air supply)

• CHOKE (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

She choked with emotion when she spoke about her deceased husband

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

breathe; respire; suspire; take a breath (draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

choking (a condition caused by blocking the airways to the lungs (as with food or swelling of the larynx))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be too tight; rub or press

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

choke; fret; gag

Context example:

This neckband is choking the cat

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

choker (a high tight collar)

choker (necklace that fits tightly around a woman's neck)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Wring the neck of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

choke; scrag

Context example:

The man choked his opponent

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

choker (someone who kills by strangling)

choking (the act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Constrict (someone's) throat and keep from breathing

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

choke; strangle

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Cause:

choke (breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

choking (the act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

choke; gag; strangle; suffocate

Context example:

he swallowed a fishbone and gagged

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

hurt; suffer (feel pain or be in pain)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s on something
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

choking (a condition caused by blocking the airways to the lungs (as with food or swelling of the larynx))

Sense 6

Meaning:

Fail to perform adequately due to tension or agitation

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

The team should have won hands down but choked, disappointing the coach and the audience

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

fail; neglect (fail to do something; leave something undone)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

choker (an unfortunate person who is unable to perform effectively because of nervous tension or agitation)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Check or slow down the action or effect of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

She choked her anger

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

bottle up; inhibit; suppress (consciously restrain from showing; of emotions, desires, impulses, or behavior)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Become or cause to become obstructed

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

back up; choke; choke off; clog; clog up; congest; foul

Context example:

The water pipe is backed up

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude (block passage through)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "choke"):

gum up (stick together as if with gum)

crap up (become obstructed or chocked up)

block; choke up; lug; stuff (obstruct)

silt; silt up (become chocked with silt)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 9

Meaning:

Impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

asphyxiate; choke; stifle; suffocate

Context example:

The foul air was slowly suffocating the children

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude (block passage through)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

choking (a condition caused by blocking the airways to the lungs (as with food or swelling of the larynx))

Sense 10

Meaning:

Become stultified, suppressed, or stifled

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

choke; suffocate

Context example:

He is suffocating--living at home with his aged parents in the small village

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

become; turn (undergo a change or development)

Verb group:

choke; suffocate (suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 11

Meaning:

Suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

choke; suffocate

Context example:

His job suffocated him

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

dampen; stifle (suppress or constrain so as to lessen in intensity)

Verb group:

choke; suffocate (become stultified, suppressed, or stifled)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 12

Meaning:

Pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

buy the farm; cash in one's chips; choke; conk; croak; decease; die; drop dead; exit; expire; give-up the ghost; go; kick the bucket; pass; pass away; perish; pop off; snuff it

Context example:

The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Verb group:

break; break down; conk out; die; fail; give out; give way; go; go bad (stop operating or functioning)

die (suffer or face the pain of death)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "choke"):

abort (cease development, die, and be aborted)

asphyxiate; stifle; suffocate (be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen)

buy it; pip out (be killed or die)

drown (die from being submerged in water, getting water into the lungs, and asphyxiating)

predecease (die before; die earlier than)

famish; starve (die of food deprivation)

fall (die, as in battle or in a hunt)

succumb; yield (be fatally overwhelmed)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 13

Meaning:

Reduce the air supply

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

choke; throttle

Context example:

choke a carburetor

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

enrich (make better or improve in quality)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

choke (a valve that controls the flow of air into the carburetor of a gasoline engine)

Sense 14

Meaning:

Cause to retch or choke

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

choke; gag

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

sicken (make sick or ill)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

 Context examples 

“Well, really!” he cried, and then he choked and laughed again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) Respiratory symptoms; pressure or constriction in chest, choking feelings, sighing, dyspnea.

(HAMA - Respiratory Symptoms, NCI Thesaurus)

Inhaled or swallowed foreign bodies may cause choking or bowel obstruction and may require medical care.

(Foreign Bodies, NIH)

It ended suddenly on its highest note with a choke and a gurgle.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He heard a snuffle behind him—a half-choking gasp or cough.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I was choking and suffocating by the time I reached Wolf Larsen’s bunk.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Young children are at an especially high risk of choking.

(Choking, NIH)

That association led paleontologists to believe that the world's best-preserved fossil collections came from choked oceans.

(Fossils may need air to form, National Science Foundation)

He says that hunting season for the Norse would have been short, as seas were choked with ice for much of the year.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

A question about whether an individual chokes or has choked when swallowing.

(Choke When Swallowing, NCI Thesaurus)