stifled

[stahy-fuhld]

adjective

1. quelled, crushed, or ended by force.

   The activist has been in and out of detention as she continues to call attention to her country's stifled uprising.

2. suppressed, repressed, or inhibited.

   My foot slipped, and with a stifled shriek I found myself grasping desperately for a handhold.

   One version of me grew up as expected, appearing as a confident adult to the outside world; the other remained a stifled, insecure child.

3. deprived of air or of the ability to breathe.

   The light is mixed with the dust floating in the stifled hut, where the air inside never moves.

   When I see that picture of the stifled refugees hidden in the van, I don’t understand the heartlessness that permits such a thing.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of stifle.

Other Word Forms

• unstifled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stifled¹

stifle ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Nearby, a rooster crowed, and Penelope stifled a yawn as she slipped unnoticed through the door.

Read more on Literature

Penelope glanced at the grandfather clock and stifled a yawn.

Read more on Literature

“Anytime you’re feeling stifled here, you’re like, ‘I need to go to New York and f**k a bunch of people and go out every night.’

Read more on Salon

Iran aspires to become a key regional player in emerging technologies, despite decades of international sanctions that have stifled its development.

Read more on Barron's

I imagined years of stifled conflict before my three children all graduated from high school.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• delicate 
• dim 
• distant 
• dull 
• far-off 
• gentle 
• hazy 
• inaudible 
• mild 
• muffled www.thesaurus.com
• muted 
• remote 
• slight 
• soft 
• soothing 
• vague 
• weak