as in to strangle
to cause (someone) to stop breathing and often to become unconscious and die
The murder victim was asphyxiated.
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Recent Examples of asphyxiate
The buildings barely provided shelter from the elements and the men being held there lived with the constant threat of fires that filled the corridors with clouds of thick, asphyxiating smoke.
—
Jelani Cobb, Rolling Stone, 4 Dec. 2024
There, his world is both opened up and asphyxiated.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2024
But the indictment returned by a Georgia grand jury in May detailed a gruesome confrontation in which Ibarra allegedly asphyxiated the student, hit her over the head with a rock to the point of disfiguring her skull, and pulled up her clothing, intending to rape her.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 20 Nov. 2024
She was struck in the head with a rock several times and asphyxiated, according to court documents.
—Nicole Chavez, CNN, 20 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for asphyxiate 
Jelani Cobb, Rolling Stone, 4 Dec. 2024
There, his world is both opened up and asphyxiated.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2024
But the indictment returned by a Georgia grand jury in May detailed a gruesome confrontation in which Ibarra allegedly asphyxiated the student, hit her over the head with a rock to the point of disfiguring her skull, and pulled up her clothing, intending to rape her.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 20 Nov. 2024
She was struck in the head with a rock several times and asphyxiated, according to court documents.
—Nicole Chavez, CNN, 20 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for asphyxiate
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Cite this Entry
“Asphyxiate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asphyxiate. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
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