stifled

American  

[stahy-fuhld] / ˈstaɪ fəld /

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.

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verb

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

Other Word Forms

• unstifled adjective

Etymology

Origin of stifled

stifle ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ²

Example Sentences

At the time, his pronouncement was met with blank faces and stifled laughter.

From The Wall Street Journal

But critics, including hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers who have since left, say dissent has been stifled, and the city's freedoms severely curbed.

From BBC

The sharp contraction stifled hopes of a coming recovery and built pressure on the central bank to keep slashing interest rates.

From The Wall Street Journal

This season, as in the past, they were a poorly timed roadblock that unnecessarily stifled USC’s hopes.

From Los Angeles Times

It has thwarted explorers and stifled merchants’ ambitions.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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