strangle
Americanverb (used with object)
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to kill by squeezing the throat in order to compress the windpipe and prevent the intake of air, as with the hands or a tightly drawn cord.
-
to kill by stopping the breath in any manner; choke; stifle; suffocate.
- Synonyms:
- smother
-
to prevent the continuance, growth, rise, or action of; suppress.
Censorship strangles a free press.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to kill by compressing the windpipe; throttle
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(tr) to prevent or inhibit the growth or development of
to strangle originality
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(tr) to suppress (an utterance) by or as if by swallowing suddenly
to strangle a cry
Other Word Forms
- strangler noun
- stranglingly adverb
- unstrangled adjective
Etymology
Origin of strangle
1250–1300; Middle English strangelen < Old French estrangler < Latin strangulāre < Greek strangalân, derivative of strangálē halter, akin to strangós twisted
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.
The so-called strangle strategy entails buying a put option and call option that are below and above the market, respectively, and that share the same expiration date.
From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026
The group aims to fight regulations they say will strangle AI.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
In fact, the straddle or strangle buy here is worth looking at.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 12, 2026
The new models come just after the expiration of a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles, which is expected to strangle growth at EV makers this month and going forward.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 7, 2025
Now the old fears returned and threatened to strangle me, to sink me back in that horrible pit of depression I’d spent years struggling to climb out of.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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.
