stifling
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived 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.
But in a previous win over Uruguay, the players found that shirt heavy and stifling in the sweltering Mexican heat.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
Leo's comments, although delivered diplomatically, represented an open critique unheard of in a country accused of stifling freedom of expression.
From Barron's • Apr. 23, 2026
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said "freedom of speech is the foundation of every university's success" but there had been too many cases contributing to "an unacceptable culture of fear and stifling the pursuit of knowledge".
From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026
Forty years ago in February, Jackson wriggled free of her father Joe Jackson’s stifling management with the release of “Control.”
From Salon • Apr. 11, 2026
Nobody said anything for another minute after that, and the silence felt stifling, so Jinny opened her mouth to fill it up, and as usual, too many words tumbled out.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
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.
