You searched for: “stifle
stifle (verb), stifles; stifled; stifling
1. To kill by preventing respiration or to suffocate: The smoke from the burning building stifled some of the firefighters.
2. To interrupt or to cut off: Tom stifled his voice when he realized that he was saying something bad to his mother.
3. To hold back or to suppress: Jill was told by her father to stifle her yawning while he was talking to her.
4. To be unable to breathe freely: While he was trying to sleep, Ivan was stifling in the hot hotel room.
To suppress or to repress and to stop.
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This entry is located in the following unit: English Words in Action, Group S (page 13)