stifling
suffocating; oppressively close: the stifling atmosphere of the cavern.
Origin of stifling
1Other words from stifling
- sti·fling·ly, adverb
- un·sti·fling, adjective
Words Nearby stifling
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use stifling in a sentence
There is so much amateur psychoanalysis in golf, it can become stifling.
A decade after collapsing, Rory McIlroy is still trying to get off the deck at the Masters | Barry Svrluga | April 8, 2021 | Washington PostThis is potentially great news for anyone who’s tried to knock out a quick morning run or ride in a stifling-hot N95.
What You Need to Know About Wearing a Face Mask Outside | Joe Lindsey | September 30, 2020 | Outside OnlineA creeping sense develops that Judy fled not just a stifling culture but a genuine existential threat.
Its recurring phrase is now the deadening, argument-stifling “As a mom,” cited frequently by Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd.
The monster tech firms are stifling competition and consolidating their power while they expand into new markets.
How a Few Monster Tech Firms are Taking Over Everything from Media to Space Travel and What it Means for the Rest of Us | Joel Kotkin | February 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
And nothing squelches education, or the desire for education, like stifling discourse.
Dear Jews: Stop Trying to Make People Shut Up | Emily L. Hauser | December 9, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTA name like that might ease some of the pressure of living under such a stifling state.
Syrians Reject 'Bashar' Name Out of Hatred for President Assad | Mike Giglio | September 11, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe tops of the hills were laden with thunder-clouds, and the turbid atmosphere laboured with the stifling Sirocco.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane PorterHe ought not to be in London now—it is stifling—went up for some business meeting or other—seemed to wish to avoid details.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonWhile they were talking another shell entered the small apartment, exploded, and filled the air with dust and stifling fumes.
The Red Year | Louis TracyShe turned from him with overflowing heart, stifling her tears, but with a veritable volcano of emotion within her young breast.
The Doctor of Pimlico | William Le QueuxThe very air seems oppressive and stifling, and laden with the dry dust of death.
The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry Withrow
British Dictionary definitions for stifling
/ (ˈstaɪflɪŋ) /
oppressively hot or stuffy: a stifling atmosphere
Derived forms of stifling
- stiflingly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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