smother
to stifle or suffocate, as by smoke or other means of preventing free breathing.
to extinguish or deaden (fire, coals, etc.) by covering so as to exclude air.
to cover closely or thickly; envelop: to smother a steak with mushrooms.
to suppress or repress: to smother feelings.
Cooking. to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid: smothered chicken and onions.
to become stifled or suffocated; be prevented from breathing.
to be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
dense, stifling smoke.
a smoking or smoldering state, as of burning matter.
dust, fog, spray, etc., in a dense or enveloping cloud.
an overspreading profusion of anything: a smother of papers.
Origin of smother
1Other words from smother
- smoth·er·a·ble, adjective
- half-smothered, adjective
- un·smoth·er·a·ble, adjective
- un·smoth·ered, adjective
- un·smoth·er·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use smother in a sentence
Sage and sausage patty came next, served between cumin scented Buttermilk biscuits and smothered in a black pepper country gravy.
Dinner at Nitehawk Cinema: ‘Christmas Vacation’ and a Beer in a Pear Tree | Rich Goldstein | December 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhen he hits upon a phrase he likes, the reader should prepare to be smothered by it.
But 30 years later the Civil Rights Movement smothered any remaining sentimentality under the banner of equality.
Microsoft bought it, smothered it, drove away the talent, and basically killed Danger in its crib.
Indeed, for the record: You can be smothered to death by an ass.
With a tremendous effort, he controlled himself and smothered the rising fires that struggled towards speech and action.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodShe therefore yielded enchantingly when he enveloped her, smothered her, stormed her lips, and even pulled her hair.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonIt is like the eating of a smothered fire into rotten timber in that it is noiseless and without haste.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II | Rudyard KiplingHis voice broke from the smothered conference tone and the school heard it and tittered.
The Soldier of the Valley | Nelson LloydThe slush fairly smothered or blanketed the shell but I was wetted through and was stung up properly with small gravel.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian Hamilton
British Dictionary definitions for smother
/ (ˈsmʌðə) /
to suffocate or stifle by cutting off or being cut off from the air
(tr) to surround (with) or envelop (in): he smothered her with love
(tr) to extinguish (a fire) by covering so as to cut it off from the air
to be or cause to be suppressed or stifled: smother a giggle
(tr) to cook or serve (food) thickly covered with sauce, etc
anything, such as a cloud of smoke, that stifles
a profusion or turmoil
archaic a state of smouldering or a smouldering fire
Origin of smother
1Derived forms of smother
- smothery, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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