STRANGLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does strangle mean? 

• STRANGLE (verb)
  The verb STRANGLE has 6 senses:

1. kill by squeezing the throat of so as to cut off the air

2. suppress in order to conceal or hide

3. die from strangulation

4. prevent the progress or free movement of

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

6. struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake

  Familiarity information: STRANGLE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STRANGLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they strangle    ... he / she / it strangles   
Past simple: strangled   
Past participle: strangled   
-ing form: strangling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Kill by squeezing the throat of so as to cut off the air

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

strangle; strangulate; throttle

Context example:

A man in Boston has been strangling several dozen prostitutes

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

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

"Strangle" entails doing...:

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

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

garotte; garrote; garrotte; scrag (strangle with an iron collar)

Sentence frames:

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

Sentence example:

They want to strangle the prisoners

Derivation:

strangler (someone who kills by strangling)

strangler (an epiphytic vine or tree whose aerial roots extend down the trunk of a supporting tree and coalesce around it eventually strangling the tree)

strangling; strangulation (the act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe)

Sense 2

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 "strangle" 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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Die from strangulation

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

strangulation (the condition of having respiration stopped by compression of the air passage)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Prevent the progress or free movement of

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

cramp; halter; hamper; strangle

Context example:

the imperialist nation wanted to strangle the free trade between the two small countries

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

bound; confine; limit; restrict; throttle; trammel (place limits on (extent or amount or access))

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 5

Meaning:

Constrict (someone's) throat and keep from breathing

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

choke; strangle

Hypernyms (to "strangle" 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:

strangulation (the condition of having respiration stopped by compression of the air passage)

Sense 6

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

hurt; suffer (feel pain or be in pain)

Sentence frames:

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

 Context examples 

Researchers believe that Alzheimer’s and similar diseases advance when certain proteins in the brain assemble themselves into long fibers that accumulate and ultimately strangle nerve cells in the brain.

(Subtracting Gravity from Alzheimer's, NASA)

The dead man, however, got up and cried: “Now will I strangle you.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He had apparently been strangled, for there was no sign of any violence except the black mark of fingers on his neck.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The taste of the salt was strong in my mouth, and I was strangling with the acrid stuff in my throat and lungs.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

To all appearances he looked like a dog that had been strangled to death.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us and on the verge of strangling when we reached the brow of the slope.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

And then I strangled a new-born agony—a deformed thing which I could not persuade myself to own and rear—and ran on.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

When he strangled, quite involuntarily his arms and legs clawed the water and drove him up to the surface and into the clear sight of the stars.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Strangling, suffocating, sometimes one uppermost and sometimes the other, dragging over the jagged bottom, smashing against rocks and snags, they veered in to the bank.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But for all the hurry of his coming, these were not the dews of exertion that he wiped away, but the moisture of some strangling anguish; for his face was white and his voice, when he spoke, harsh and broken.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)