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:
“I will never stifle the growth of technology that will be bigger than the industrial revolution,” Trump said on Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
But a lack of actuators and other components could stifle those designs, experts like Cardenas say.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Trying to stifle anger over this may be the single most common topic in Christian marital advice content.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
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
He looked like an ordinary bank employee, but Alba recognized him immediately and was unable to stifle the shout of joy that rose up from within her.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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
A new hurricane season record is likely to be set this week as a historic and still strengthening El Niño stifles tropical development in the Atlantic.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 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
The mousy-haired girl clamps her hand over her mouth and stifles a sob.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
“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
She pushed Joint into corners, held off several break points, and stifled a match point in the tiebreak before taking it for herself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 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
This stifled England's build-up against an already stubborn defence and minimised their threat.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
A little sound, like a stifled sob, came from her mouth.
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
A good car balance should put Verstappen in a good place for a race that will be dominated by tyre degradation in the stifling heat, whether the threatened rain holds off or not.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
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
That’s creating a bottleneck at some firms, stifling not just promotions but preventing younger ambitious partners from getting bigger cases and juicier work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
In and out, in and out, my lungs gasp in the stifling heat of my room, life flowing through me.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
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.
