Showing results for "stifled"

• past tense form of stifle.
• past participle of stifle.

stifled

American  

[stahy-fuhld] / ˈstaɪ fəld /

adjective

1. quelled, crushed, or ended by force.

   The activist has been in and out of detention as she continues to call attention to her country's stifled uprising.

2. suppressed, repressed, or inhibited.

   My foot slipped, and with a stifled shriek I found myself grasping desperately for a handhold.

   One version of me grew up as expected, appearing as a confident adult to the outside world; the other remained a stifled, insecure child.

3. deprived of air or of the ability to breathe.

   The light is mixed with the dust floating in the stifled hut, where the air inside never moves.

   When I see that picture of the stifled refugees hidden in the van, I don’t understand the heartlessness that permits such a thing.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of stifle.

Other Word Forms

• unstifled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of stifled

stifle ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ²

Explanation

Stifled is an adjective for anything that's been squashed or smothered. You might have a stifled ambition to be an astronaut that you never admitted to others. Something stifled is stunted, or prevented from growing. If your mother never let you read books or climb trees, your childhood curiosity might have been stifled. Perhaps your career was stifled because you were constantly daydreaming about being an astronaut, and so failed to do your job well.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stifled

Losing two-time winner Vingegaard to a broken collarbone stifled any threat to Pogacar’s winning yellow jersey, but smaller dramas unfolded.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

“My Neighbor Totoro” is a gateway into a pastoral ideal that still exists in living memory, reviving parts of our imagination that maturity has stifled into dormancy.

From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026

Following a brief stint on the singing competition “Operación Triunfo” three years later, La Cruz was closeted and found his momentum stifled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

While households’ debt-service burden has increased since pandemic lockdowns stifled spending, it remains lighter than at any point before the pandemic dating back to the 1980s.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

But the blue haze of evening shrouded the street, stifled sounds, and sent everyone indoors to their secrets, and Papi didn’t come.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Related Words

• delicate
• dim
• distant
• dull
• far-off
• gentle
• hazy
• inaudible
• mild
• muffled
• muted
• remote
• slight
• soft
• soothing
• vague
• weak