How to Use asphyxiate in a Sentence

asphyxiate

verb
Definition of asphyxiatenext
Synonyms for asphyxiatenext
  • The swelling blocked his windpipe and led him to asphyxiate, says the notice of claim filed Tuesday with the Court of Claims.
    — Graham Rayman, New York Daily News, 5 Mar. 2024
  • The trick was to drop the bomb into the hole and then cover the opening with dirt so the noxious fumes would asphyxiate the groundhog.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 3 May 2023
  • That had to have been a [lesson in how] to asphyxiate yourself.
    — Clark Collis, EW.com, 23 July 2019
  • The stepfather of a 13-year-old girl found dead on the side of an Arizona road is accused of asphyxiating the girl to death.
    — Crimesider Staff, CBS News, 1 June 2017
  • Her killer wrapped duct tape around her face, causing her to asphyxiate.
    — Fox News, 6 Oct. 2019
  • If the flow of blood was strangled, our baby would asphyxiate.
    — Sarah Stewart Johnson, The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2020
  • The smell is alive and dead, asphyxiating and alluring all at once.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 15 Dec. 2019
  • Many people exposed to the cloud of gas would be asphyxiated.
    — Dan Dubno, Popular Mechanics, 28 Apr. 2019
  • Many of the victims swept up by the eruption were long thought to have died by asphyxiating on ashes and toxic gases.
    — National Geographic, 23 Jan. 2020
  • Tylee had been dismembered and burned; J.J. was asphyxiated and wrapped in plastic and bound by duct tape.
    — Christine Pelisek, Peoplemag, 1 Aug. 2023
  • The deceased — a 4-month-old boy with multiple old and fresh breaks in his ribs — clearly had been asphyxiated, Downs said.
    — Deanna Boyd, star-telegram.com, 31 May 2017
  • Most recently, five climbers were killed in 2013 when they were asphyxiated by ash near the summit.
    — Jes Aznar and Russell Goldman, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2018
  • With Dylan unconscious, Miriam tapes his mouth and nose shut and places a plastic bag over his head to asphyxiate him.
    — Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 25 Mar. 2021
  • Good group decision-making needs oxygen, and if the boss sucks it out of the room, some idea or someone is going to be asphyxiated.
    — Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Sep. 2019
  • All were killed in his suburban Norwood Park ranch house, most of them strangled or asphyxiated, and Gacy buried 26 of the bodies in the crawl space beneath his home.
    — Jeff Truesdell, Peoplemag, 25 Mar. 2024
  • When that didn't work, Linda stuffed a washcloth in his mouth as Mary Beth held his nose shut to asphyxiate him, charging documents state.
    — Jeff Truesdell, PEOPLE.com, 23 July 2021
  • Two men were killed in the bloody eviction and two infant children were said to have asphyxiated from tear gas inhalation.
    — Longreads, 24 Nov. 2014
  • Either the explosion’s shock wave will crush your internal organs, or the hot ash and gas will asphyxiate you.
    — New York Times, 18 Mar. 2021
  • Police believe Reed asphyxiated Mckelvey and tried to burn the house down.
    — Omar Abdel-Baqui, Detroit Free Press, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Many victims, some barely out of their teens, were burned or asphyxiated.
    — Ana Vanessa Herrero, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2018
  • The umbilical cord had knotted and wrapped tightly around her neck and chest, asphyxiating Sophie in the womb.
    — Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, ExpressNews.com, 8 Dec. 2019
  • It had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire, and an autopsy determined that she was asphyxiated.
    — Washington Post, 26 Apr. 2017
  • Floyd's killing also helped shed light on the death Adama Traoré, whose family believes he was asphyxiated by police in 2016.
    — USA TODAY, 1 July 2023
  • Police said she was abducted, raped and asphyxiated and her dead body then set alight on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
    — NBC News, 6 Dec. 2019
  • There is the body of a rabbit, asphyxiated by carbon monoxide in the garage, honored and painstakingly restored.
    — Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2019
  • The police said on Wednesday that Eaton was asphyxiated.
    — Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 11 July 2019
  • Her character is raped and kills herself by asphyxiating herself in a kitchen oven.
    — David Belcher, BostonGlobe.com, 21 May 2018
  • Denny, the decision said, then placed Day on his side to prevent him from asphyxiating by rolling onto his stomach.
    — Crystal Hill, Indianapolis Star, 28 Jan. 2020
  • Volunteers kept some of them from asphyxiating by keeping them on land wrapped in wet blankets, or in shallow tubs of water with tiny life jackets.
    — Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2020
  • People were trapped in the open, incinerated, asphyxiated and strafed with machine-gun fire.
    — Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'asphyxiate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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