smother

American  

[smuhth-er] / ˈsmʌð ər /

verb (used with object)

1. to stifle or suffocate, as by smoke or other means of preventing free breathing.

2. to extinguish or deaden (fire, coals, etc.) by covering so as to exclude air.

3. to cover closely or thickly; envelop.

   to smother a steak with mushrooms.

4. to suppress or repress.

   to smother feelings.

5. Cooking. to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid.

   smothered chicken and onions.

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verb (used without object)

1. to become stifled or suffocated; be prevented from breathing.

2. to be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.

noun

1. dense, stifling smoke.

2. a smoking or smoldering state, as of burning matter.

3. dust, fog, spray, etc., in a dense or enveloping cloud.

4. an overspreading profusion of anything.

   a smother of papers.

smother British  

/ ˈsmʌðə /

verb

1. to suffocate or stifle by cutting off or being cut off from the air

2. (tr) to surround (with) or envelop (in)

   he smothered her with love

3. (tr) to extinguish (a fire) by covering so as to cut it off from the air

4. to be or cause to be suppressed or stifled

   smother a giggle

5. (tr) to cook or serve (food) thickly covered with sauce, etc

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noun

1. anything, such as a cloud of smoke, that stifles

2. a profusion or turmoil

3. archaic a state of smouldering or a smouldering fire

Other Word Forms

• half-smothered adjective
• smotherable adjective
• smothery adjective
• unsmotherable adjective
• unsmothered adjective
• unsmothering adjective

Etymology

Origin of smother

1125–75; (noun) Middle English smorther dense smoke; akin to Old English smorian to suffocate; (v.) Middle English smo ( r ) theren, derivative of the noun

Explanation

To smother is to overwhelm or suffocate. If you've ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend who calls you twenty five times an hour to check up on you, then you know what it means to be smothered by someone. The word smother literally means to deprive of oxygen, so it can be used to refer to someone who gets suffocated by a pillow. In everyday conversation, the word is often used to refer to the act of making someone feel like they’re being deprived of oxygen or personal space. If you have a mother who likes to smother you by asking where you're going every time you see her, then it's likely you’re already dreaming of moving out!

Example Sentences

Thick layers of dust smother giant grinding and pressing machines, while only a tiny crew of workers transfer the last batch made three weeks ago off snaking assembly lines and into trucks.

From Barron's • Mar. 29, 2026

Retreating to a personal Walden, he suggests, may smother creativity rather than fuel it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

Aster’s modus operandi, holding strong following his first three features, is to smother the viewer, piling on so many narrative threads that it becomes difficult to claw free for a broader perspective.

From Salon • Jul. 20, 2025

I covered a South Carolina rally in which Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott—two other figures Trump would go on to smother eight years later—endorsed Rubio, presenting themselves as the future of the party.

From Slate • Jan. 20, 2025

And there were beetles that could chew gemstones better than any jeweler could cut them, and silence trumpets that, when blown, blasted a blanket of quiet loud enough to smother thunder.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Related Words

• choke
• douse
• envelop
• overwhelm
• quash
• quell
• snuff
• squelch
• stifle
• strangle
• suffocate
• suppress
• surround