stranglehold

[strang-guh l-hohld]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stranglehold ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Wrestling. an illegal hold by which an opponent's breath is choked off.

a restraining hold in which one person uses an arm to encircle the neck of another; a chokehold.

any force or influence that restricts the free actions or development of a person or thing; a stifling grip: to break the stranglehold of superstition.

Origin of stranglehold

First recorded in 1890–95; strangle + hold¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for stranglehold

grip, monopoly, restrict, suppress

Examples from the Web for stranglehold

Contemporary Examples of stranglehold

The professors concluded that “abstinence-only programs have a stranglehold on sexuality education in Texas public schools.”
Gail Collins on Texas’s Abstinence Sex Education Problems
Gail Collins
June 4, 2012
The agreement lessened the stranglehold India-Pakistan tensions had put on trade in the region for decades.
Richard Holbrooke's Last Mission in Afghanistan by David Rohde
David Rohde
November 26, 2011
Galled by the stranglehold of the religious right, he has challenged the party to open itself up to young voters and new ideas.
The Next McCain?
Robert Gehrke
May 18, 2009

Historical Examples of stranglehold

The smaller the group the tighter its stranglehold over your life and activities.
The Legacy of Greece
Various
It gave them such a stranglehold––with the right sort of men––and Brace was the right sort.
At the Crossroads
Harriet T. Comstock
Mrs. Trapes, I've got a stranglehold on that idea, for it is rather brilliant.
The Definite Object
Jeffery Farnol
The Party manipulators had now got their stranglehold on the country.
Ireland Since Parnell
Daniel Desmond Sheehan
Then, indeed, the Lhari had been lying all along, the vicious lie that maintained their stranglehold monopoly of star-travel.
The Colors of Space
Marion Zimmer Bradley

British Dictionary definitions for stranglehold

stranglehold

noun

a wrestling hold in which a wrestler's arms are pressed against his opponent's windpipeSee also Japanese stranglehold

complete power or control over a person or situation

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

Word Origin and History for stranglehold

1893, in wrestling, from strangle (v.) + hold (n.). Figurative use by 1901.