suffocation

American  

[suhf-uh-key-shuhn] / ˌsʌf əˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

suffocations plural

1. the act of killing by preventing air from getting to the blood through the lungs or gills; strangulation.

   A crushing neck injury resulted in the child’s suffocation.

2. difficulty breathing or inability to breathe, or any act that causes this.

   One protestor endured temporary suffocation from tear gas.

3. the act of making someone uncomfortable, or the fact of becoming uncomfortable, through lack of fresh air.

   Every noon, the market was crowded; but on Sundays, it was crowded to the point of suffocation.

4. the act or practice of thwarting someone’s self-expression, freedom, independence, etc..

   Under the military regime there was so much suffocation of the media—they even burned down news offices.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• suffocations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of suffocation

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin suffōcātiōn-, stem of suffōcātiō, “a choking, stifling”; see suffocate ( def. ), -ion ( def. )

Example Sentences

Tenenbaum tapped NJ Scheers, a statistician who, in the early 1990s, led the agency’s Infant Suffocation Project, which investigated the dangers of adult soft bedding.

From Washington Post • Nov. 23, 2019

They're associated with the bands Suffocation and Pestilence — at least that's what Wikipedia told me, because I had to look them up.

From Time • Oct. 17, 2017

Suffocation became a new theme in the trial, and Bellows picked up on it.

From Washington Post • Apr. 13, 2017

Scheers, a statistical consultant and the former product manager of the CPSC’s Infant Suffocation Project.

From Slate • Mar. 14, 2017

Suffocation, produced either by ignorance, or by carelessness.

From Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children by Chavasse, Pye Henry