- present participle of stifle.
stifling
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of stifling
Explanation
Something stifling makes you feel suffocated. If your mother insists on accompanying you on your first date, that will probably feel stifling. Stifle comes from the Middle English word stuffle, which means to kill by cutting off air. A really hot movie theater is stifling, as is an environment where you never get any space to yourself. This word can also be used as a noun to refer to the act of repressing or shutting something down, such as a dictator's stifling of popular protests. Either way, if something is stifling, it's preventing something else from living freely and fully.
Vocabulary lists containing stifling
The Sweltering Words of Summer
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Holes
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Refugee
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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 reports that nurses collapsed in the "stifling heat" and "3,000 patients a day" were treated in corridors.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
In the park of the Temple of Amun, near the centre, hundreds of onlookers had gathered despite the stifling August heat.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
The author also draws on realizations from his own life, such as the time he found himself perversely stifling another man’s generous impulse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Those included the stifling humidity and soaring temperatures in Miami for their quarter-final against Norway.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
“You’re next, mi vida,” she says, stifling a yawn.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
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.
