smother
Americanverb (used with object)
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to stifle or suffocate, as by smoke or other means of preventing free breathing.
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to extinguish or deaden (fire, coals, etc.) by covering so as to exclude air.
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to cover closely or thickly; envelop.
to smother a steak with mushrooms.
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to suppress or repress.
to smother feelings.
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Cooking. to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid.
smothered chicken and onions.
verb (used without object)
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to become stifled or suffocated; be prevented from breathing.
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to be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
noun
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dense, stifling smoke.
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a smoking or smoldering state, as of burning matter.
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dust, fog, spray, etc., in a dense or enveloping cloud.
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an overspreading profusion of anything.
a smother of papers.
verb
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to suffocate or stifle by cutting off or being cut off from the air
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(tr) to surround (with) or envelop (in)
he smothered her with love
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(tr) to extinguish (a fire) by covering so as to cut it off from the air
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to be or cause to be suppressed or stifled
smother a giggle
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(tr) to cook or serve (food) thickly covered with sauce, etc
noun
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anything, such as a cloud of smoke, that stifles
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a profusion or turmoil
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archaic a state of smouldering or a smouldering fire
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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half-smotheredadjective
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smotherableadjective
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smotheryadjective
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unsmotherableadjective
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unsmotheredadjective
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unsmotheringadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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smothersimple
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smotherssimple
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have smotheredperfect
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has smotheredperfect
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am smotheringprogressive
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are smotheringprogressive
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is smotheringprogressive
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have been smotheringperfect progressive
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has been smotheringperfect progressive
Past
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smotheredsimple
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had smotheredperfect
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was smotheringprogressive
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were smotheringprogressive
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had been smotheringperfect progressive
Future
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!
Vocabulary lists containing smother
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 7
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 16–19
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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.
See Examples For:
Instead, wielding my noise-canceling earbuds, Odysseus-like, I plan to smother this screeching sound to preserve my sanity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
He said it took him five minutes to smother the flames with a fire blanket before he noticed his whole house was becoming enveloped in smoke.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
Retreating to a personal Walden, he suggests, may smother creativity rather than fuel it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Critics fear deep-sea mining will smother marine life with waste and the noise of heavy machinery will disrupt oceanic migrations.
From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2025
He was pushing through a world of invisible pine sap that threatened to smother him.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
But as much as she smothers her desires, others can sense them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
L.A.’s heat-seeking “Showtime” franchise is obsessed over more than any other, in good times and especially troubled ones, to the point where it smothers other NBA coverage and drives many fans nuts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2025
João Guilherme twitches and groans in recognition when his father lifts him in the air, when his mother smothers him with kisses and when his sisters walk by and drop a smooch on his head.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2022
Kilduff said the nonprofits are demanding an environmental impact statement in part because of new information on how dredging smothers corals.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 16, 2022
All it took was a fire, nearly dying, and being rescued by humans and healed in a box to make me feel it: a desire to play that smothers everything else.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Workers sweated in choking heat and pupils stayed home on Tuesday as an early-summer heatwave smothered much of Europe, sparking health warnings.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
He has added gold trim to the crown molding, smothered the walls with gold-framed artworks and gold-painted embellishments, placed inch-thick gold coasters on the desk, and lined up gold urns on the mantel.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
Of course, the barbershop, where ball talk is real talk, and where the expectations around the Dodgers upcoming quest for a three-peat recently smothered me like a hot towel to the head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026
A streetwise Scotland smothered France in defence and ran them through in attack, at one point stretching their lead to a scarcely credible 33 points.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
A nor'easter howled in from the Atlantic and smothered Salem in snowdrifts.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
Some species may have acted as fire ladders, helping flames move through the landscape while also crowding out and smothering other vegetation.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
The blaze at Jatiwaringin landfill, on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, has spread across more than 15 hectares, smothering the area in thick, toxic smoke and displacing hundreds of local residents.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Earlier this month, the United States voiced unease after Israel bombed fuel depots around Tehran, smothering the city of 10 million people with toxic black smoke.
From Barron's ● Mar. 19, 2026
Headstrong, queer and disinterested in Victorian pieties, she escaped her smothering Indianapolis family and headed to Chicago, where she hustled work as a bookseller and book reviewer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025
Calakmul's inhabitants had cut a little divot into its flanks for their city, but now the vegetation, massive and indifferent, was smothering every trace of their existence.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
