stifle
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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stifles,
present (3rd person singular)
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stifled,
past participle, past
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stifling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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stifles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stifled,
past participle, past
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stifling
present participle
-
to suffer from difficulty in breathing, as in a close atmosphere.
-
to become stifled or suffocated.
noun
verb
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(tr) to smother or suppress
stifle a cough
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to feel or cause to feel discomfort and difficulty in breathing
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to prevent or be prevented from breathing so as to cause death
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(tr) to crush or stamp out
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stiflesimple
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stiflessimple
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have stifledperfect
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has stifledperfect
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am stiflingprogressive
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are stiflingprogressive
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is stiflingprogressive
-
have been stiflingperfect progressive
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has been stiflingperfect progressive
Past
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stifledsimple
-
had stifledperfect
-
was stiflingprogressive
-
were stiflingprogressive
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had been stiflingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stifle1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English from Old Norse stīfla “to stop up, dam,” akin to stīfr “stiff”
Origin of stifle2
1275–1325; Middle English < ?
Explanation
To stifle is to cut off, hold back, or smother. You may stifle your cough if you don't want to interrupt a lecture or you may stifle the competition if you fear losing. The verb stifle means “to choke, suffocate, drown.” It can describe a claustrophobic feeling, like getting smothered by kisses from your great aunt. At its most extreme, stifle means to kill by cutting off respiration. The metaphoric sense of stifle didn’t develop until well after the word was first recorded as a verb: "I can always tell — but never let on for fear of damaging his ego — that my boyfriend attempts to stifle tears during sappy parts of movies; his eyes well up at the corners and he’ll sniffle uncontrollably, claiming allergies."
Vocabulary lists containing stifle
The Diary of Anne Frank
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"The Tell-Tale Heart," Vocabulary from the short story
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List 5
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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:
He added, “I’m not going to stifle the growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution.”
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
"You don't want to stifle innovation," Thune said on Monday, "but I think you also want to make sure that the more advanced threats can be mitigated."
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
While the climate disturbance promotes cyclones in the Pacific, it can stifle them in the North Atlantic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The practice “may distort competition, stifle innovation, and potentially lead to monopolies or market concentration in strategic sectors,” as the Center for Strategic and International Studies put it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
The rain is good too: it will stifle the fires.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Weintraub stares blankly, Wiatt stifles a yawn, and I can’t get a clear read on Wirtschafter, though he’s not screaming hallelujah.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
And earlier this year, a jury found that Live Nation was an illegal monopoly, following years of criticism that the company stifles competition and overcharges fans, but analysts say a breakup is unlikely.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
Today, Zabtia said, it is no longer censorship that stifles filmmaking in Libya, but an array of other challenges compounded by a lack of public support.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
Gardner turns around to request that Gosling’s character move to another seat off-camera — but before she makes that demand, she stifles a chuckle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2024
Still, he stifles a moan as his wounded hand tries to manage the reins.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Losing two-time winner Vingegaard to a broken collarbone stifled any threat to Pogacar’s winning yellow jersey, but smaller dramas unfolded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
“My Neighbor Totoro” is a gateway into a pastoral ideal that still exists in living memory, reviving parts of our imagination that maturity has stifled into dormancy.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
Following a brief stint on the singing competition “Operación Triunfo” three years later, La Cruz was closeted and found his momentum stifled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
While households’ debt-service burden has increased since pandemic lockdowns stifled spending, it remains lighter than at any point before the pandemic dating back to the 1980s.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
With a barely stifled sigh, I ducked into the small hall bathroom just off the kitchen and did a quick check of myself in the mirror.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Those hardships are visible after sunset, when electricity fails, disappearing entire neighborhoods into stifling darkness.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Maybe that can feel stifling for some viewers.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
This time, New England’s defense should do a better job of stifling Aaron Rodgers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Nevertheless, she committed herself to painting and enrolled in a Kyoto art school in 1948 to study the traditional Nihonga style, but found its strictures provincial and stifling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Miniature golf was ruined with a lengthy dissertation on impact, trajectory, and wind velocity, and our sand castles were critiqued with stifling lectures on the dynamics of the vaulted ceiling.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
