choke

American  

[chohk] / tʃoʊk /

verb (used with object)

• chokes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• choked,
  past participle,  past
• choking
  present participle

1. to stop the breath of by squeezing or obstructing the windpipe; strangle; stifle.

2. to stop by or as if by strangling or stifling.

   The sudden wind choked his words.

3. to stop by filling; obstruct; clog.

   Grease choked the drain.

   Synonyms:

   plug, dam, block

4. to suppress (a feeling, emotion, etc.) (often followed by back ordown ).

   I managed to choke back my tears.

5. to fill chock-full.

   The storeroom was choked with furniture.

6. to seize (a log, felled tree, etc.) with a chain, cable, or the like, so as to facilitate removal.

7. to enrich the fuel mixture of (an internal-combustion engine) by diminishing the air supply to the carburetor.

8. Sports. to grip (a bat, racket, or the like) farther than usual from the end of the handle; shorten one's grip on (often followed byup ).

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verb (used without object)

• chokes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• choked,
  past participle,  past
• choking
  present participle

1. to suffer from or as from strangling or suffocating.

   He choked on a piece of food.

2. to become obstructed, clogged, or otherwise stopped.

   The words choked in her throat.

noun

1. the act or sound of choking.

2. a mechanism by which the air supply to the carburetor of an internal-combustion engine can be diminished or stopped.

3. Machinery. any mechanism that, by blocking a passage, regulates the flow of air, gas, etc.

4. Electricity. choke coil.

5. a narrowed part, as in a chokebore.

6. the bristly upper portion of the receptacle of the artichoke.

verb phrase

1. choke up

   1. to become or cause to become speechless, as from the effect of emotion or stress.

      She choked up over the sadness of the tale.

   2. to become too tense or nervous to perform well.

      Our team began to choke up in the last inning.

2. choke off to stop or obstruct by or as by choking.

   to choke off a nation's fuel supply.

choke British  

/ tʃəʊk /

verb

1. (tr) to hinder or stop the breathing of (a person or animal), esp by constricting the windpipe or by asphyxiation

2. (intr) to have trouble or fail in breathing, swallowing, or speaking

3. (tr) to block or clog up (a passage, pipe, street, etc)

4. (tr) to retard the growth or action of

   the weeds are choking my plants

5. (tr) to suppress (emotion)

   she choked her anger

6. slang (intr) to die

7. (tr) to enrich the petrol-air mixture by reducing the air supply to (a carburettor, petrol engine, etc)

8. (intr) (esp in sport) to be seized with tension and fail to perform well

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noun

1. the act or sound of choking

2. a device in the carburettor of a petrol engine that enriches the petrol-air mixture by reducing the air supply

3. any constriction or mechanism for reducing the flow of a fluid in a pipe, tube, etc

4. Also called: choke coil. electronics an inductor having a relatively high impedance, used to prevent the passage of high frequencies or to smooth the output of a rectifier

5. the inedible centre of the head of an artichoke

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interchoke
  verb (used with object)
• chokeable
  adjective
• unchokeable
  adjective
• unchoked
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• choking
  present
• choked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• choke
  simple
• chokes
  simple
• have choked
  perfect
• has choked
  perfect
• am choking
  progressive
• are choking
  progressive
• is choking
  progressive
• have been choking
  perfect progressive
• has been choking
  perfect progressive

Past

• choked
  simple
• had choked
  perfect
• was choking
  progressive
• were choking
  progressive
• had been choking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will choke
  simple
• will have choked
  perfect
• will be choking
  progressive
• will have been choking
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of choke

1150–1200; Middle English choken, cheken, variant of achoken, acheken, Old English ācēocian to suffocate; akin to Old Norse kōk gullet

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Explanation

When you choke, you are suddenly unable to breathe, often because something is stuck in your throat. Your dad's rude joke might make you gasp and choke on your grilled cheese sandwich. You might choke in a smoky room, or choke on a grape that's lodged halfway down your throat. In either case, your body can't get enough oxygen. People also choke up with emotion, figuratively choking on their sobs. Likewise, a child might complain, "This scarf chokes me!" — it's uncomfortably tight, but he's not literally unable to breathe. When the weeds in your garden outnumber the vegetables, you can also say they choke, or crowd, your plants.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

choke chokes choked choking

If rates go high enough, it could even choke off the current economic expansion.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2026

Over the past few days, worries that rising interest rates could choke off AI spending have sent investors into defensive stocks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

What has me in a choke hold right now is “Brilliant Sort.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

The giant wad of cash splurged on all this would choke an elephant.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Masterji Thakur began to choke and sputter, but a nearby Arcanum instructor handed him a drink.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

Incredibly frequent fire, triggered by near-constant human ignitions, slowly chokes out native species.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

A lifelong Parton fan, Hadley chokes up while detailing how she was at work when a friend texted to say the singer had died.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Swap out your air filter: A clogged filter chokes airflow, forcing your AC to guzzle more power to do the same job.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

Doctors must administer high doses of Eisai/Biogen’s Leqembi and Lilly’s Kisunla, because only a fraction of 1% of the infused antibodies reach the amyloid plaque that chokes brain cells in Alzheimer’s.

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

Dad has to turn the ignition over a few times before the car chokes to life.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

When we bought the place, I envisioned our children running wild in the backyard under the climbing wisteria, but the wisteria is invasive, and it ate away at our fence and choked the rhododendrons.

From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026

In addition to the new levy, trading restrictions on Russian metal and the Iran War, which choked off Persian Gulf exports, have contributed to global price increases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

This Emmy was a long time coming, and you could feel that when she choked up on stage accepting it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea ever since Iran's Hormuz blockade choked off its shipments via the Gulf.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

A second cold, wet hand touched Anya’s other arm, and this time she nearly choked on her own tongue, still unable to make any appreciable sound.

From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack

Energy exports from the Gulf have plunged since US-Israeli strikes on Iran from February caused Tehran to respond by choking off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil and gas transit.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

As Indonesia battles its worst wildfire season in a decade, a toxic smog is choking millions of residents in the region.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

A lawsuit that accused an Orange County Board of Education trustee of choking and attacking a neighbor during a road rage incident has been dismissed, court records show.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

The school closures came as Malaysia's leader discussed the choking smoke with his Indonesian counterpart and called for an urgent regional meeting.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

She tried with fingers and tried with teeth, spluttering and choking, because now the knot was quite a long way underwater.

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr

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Related Words

• clog
• congest
• drown
• fill
• gag
• gasp
• kill
• stifle
• strangle
• suffocate

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