stifled
Americanadjective
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of stifled
Explanation
Stifled is an adjective for anything that's been squashed or smothered. You might have a stifled ambition to be an astronaut that you never admitted to others. Something stifled is stunted, or prevented from growing. If your mother never let you read books or climb trees, your childhood curiosity might have been stifled. Perhaps your career was stifled because you were constantly daydreaming about being an astronaut, and so failed to do your job well.
Vocabulary lists containing stifled
A Wrinkle in Time
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Vocabulary from the Vice-Presidential Debate, October 4, 2016
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The Double Helix
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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.
It is the inverse of China’s “Great Firewall,” a sprawling regulatory and technological system that has stifled foreign competition and restricted the Chinese public’s access to information for more than two decades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 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
McCullum runs an "informal" environment that suited the players he inherited: experienced Test cricketers who needed freedom after being stifled by Covid and a long winless run.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
I feel groggy today, my mind stifled and my heart still pounding from another round of nightmares, and my limbs are weighed down as I drag myself out of bed.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
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.
