STIFLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stifle mean? 

• STIFLE (noun)
  The noun STIFLE has 1 sense:

1. joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped; corresponds to the human knee

  Familiarity information: STIFLE used as a noun is very rare.

• STIFLE (verb)
  The verb STIFLE has 4 senses:

1. suppress in order to conceal or hide

2. suppress or constrain so as to lessen in intensity

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

4. be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen

  Familiarity information: STIFLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STIFLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped; corresponds to the human knee

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

knee; stifle

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

articulatio; articulation; joint ((anatomy) the point of connection between two bones or elements of a skeleton (especially if it allows motion))

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

hind leg (the back limb of a quadruped)

• STIFLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they stifle    ... he / she / it stifles   
Past simple: stifled   
Past participle: stifled   
-ing form: stifling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suppress in order to conceal or hide

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

muffle; repress; smother; stifle; strangle

Context example:

repress a cry of fear

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

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

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

stifler (a person who stifles or smothers or suppresses)

stifling (forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Suppress or constrain so as to lessen in intensity

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

dampen; stifle

Context example:

Stifle your curiosity

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

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

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

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

Sentence frames:

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

Antonym:

stimulate (act as a stimulant)

Derivation:

stifler (a person who stifles or smothers or suppresses)

Sense 3

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 "stifle" is one way to...):

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

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

asphyxiate; stifle; suffocate

Context example:

The child suffocated under the pillow

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

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 (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)

Verb group:

asphyxiate; smother; suffocate (deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing)

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

strangle (die from strangulation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

And yet I am stifled with desire to tell.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was a close and stifling little shop; full of all sorts of clothing, made and unmade, including one window full of beaver-hats and bonnets.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Jo lay long awake that night, and was just dropping off when the sound of a stifled sob made her fly to Beth's bedside, with the anxious inquiry, "What is it, dear?"

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Here, its power was only a glare: a stifling, sickly glare, serving but to bring forward stains and dirt that might otherwise have slept.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I was aware of a pent, stifled feeling.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But, no matter how hard we try to stifle a yawn, it might change how we yawn but it won't alter our propensity to yawn.

(Why Is Yawning so Contagious?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

I might easily have stifled it with my coat, which I unfortunately left behind me for haste, and came away only in my leathern jerkin.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Having stifled my sobs, wiped my eyes, and muttered something about not being very well that morning, I resumed my task, and succeeded in completing it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Is your dorm room stifling hot?

(Hot Dorm Rooms Could Affect Students' Memory, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)

I tried to stifle these sensations; I thought that as I could not sympathise with him, I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)