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1. Deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
   "The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor";
   - smother, asphyxiate
    
2. Impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
   "The foul air was slowly suffocating the children";
   - stifle, asphyxiate, choke
    
3. Become stultified, suppressed, or stifled
   "He is suffocating--living at home with his aged parents in the small village";
   - choke
    
4. Suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of
   "His job suffocated him";
   - choke
    
5. Be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen
   "The child suffocated under the pillow";
   - stifle, asphyxiate
    
6. Feel uncomfortable for lack of fresh air
   "The room was hot and stuffy and we were suffocating"
    
7. Struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake
   "he swallowed a fishbone and suffocated";
   - gag, choke, strangle

Derived forms: suffocating, suffocates, suffocated

Type of: become, block, buy the farm [N. Amer], cash in one's chips, choke, close up, conk, croak, dampen, decease, die, drop dead, exit, expire, feel, give-up the ghost, go, hurt, impede, jam, kick the bucket, kill, obstruct, obturate, occlude, pass, pass away, perish, pop off, pop one's clogs, snuff it, stifle, suffer, turn

Encyclopedia: Suffocate