strangle
verb (used with object)
to kill by squeezing the throat in order to compress the windpipe and prevent the intake of air, as with the hands or a tightly drawn cord.
had strangled
-
past perfectof strangle.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By April, Sri Lanka's financial crisis had strangled the economy and, with foreign exchange reserves at record lows, Rajapaksa's government failed to procure enough fertiliser.
From Reuters ● Aug. 16, 2022
International embargoes had strangled the economy, and tens of thousands of people were trying to emigrate to America.
From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2021
The jury had already been selected when the prosecutor announced that the pathologist who performed the autopsy of Erin Stanley had suddenly revealed he was no longer sure McFarland had strangled her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2019
In the preceding decades a thicket of protectionism had strangled commerce and slowed recovery from the Depression of the 1930s.
From Economist ● Nov. 2, 2017
Yesterday afternoon he had gone sailing with her; to-day he was voicing her own beliefs from the pulpit whose former incumbent had strangled and throttled them with his tyranny of weakness.
From The Tyranny of Weakness by Paul Stahr
