1
as in to strangle
to be or cause to be killed by lack of breathable air
children should never play inside discarded appliances because they could become trapped and smother
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to stifle
to refrain from openly showing or uttering
he quickly smothered his inappropriate laughter at the funeral ceremony
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to bury
to defeat by a large margin
the soccer team smothered their first few opponents in the championships, but lost narrowly in the final round
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of smother
Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 17 Sep. 2024
And just like the album title suggests, that's exactly how our readers order their hashbrowns: scattered, smothered, and covered.
—Symiah Dorsey, Southern Living, 3 Nov. 2024
Steven Goff, Washington Post, 15 July 2024
Sediment smothers underwater life and clouds waters, preventing sunlight from reaching plants and animals, destroying ecosystems.
—Scott Dance, Washington Post, 29 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for smother 
Verb
Much of Memphis is already smothered by harmful pollution.
—Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 17 Sep. 2024
And just like the album title suggests, that's exactly how our readers order their hashbrowns: scattered, smothered, and covered.
—Symiah Dorsey, Southern Living, 3 Nov. 2024
Noun
Vargas thwarted Argentina again, making a diving save to smother Nicolás González’s one-timer.
—Steven Goff, Washington Post, 15 July 2024
Sediment smothers underwater life and clouds waters, preventing sunlight from reaching plants and animals, destroying ecosystems.
—Scott Dance, Washington Post, 29 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for smother
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smother
Verb
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In a shocking but logical end to their brotherhood, Oz strangles Victor Aguilar to death, throws his ID in the river, and leaves his anonymous body to be found by the next passing stranger.Andy Andersen, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024
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This process has strangled democracy not just in countries with longstanding democratic traditions but also in countries such as Bangladesh, Benin, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Serbia, and Tunisia, which had turned toward democracy in the post–Cold War era.Larry Diamond, Foreign Affairs, 8 Nov. 2024
Verb
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Russell Wilson engineered an offense that moved the ball well enough to set up Chris Boswell’s franchise record-tying six field goals, and the defense stifled the Ravens.Jack Magruder, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
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Trying to break up Google harks back to a similar punishment initially imposed on Microsoft a quarter century ago following another major antitrust trial that culminated in a federal judge deciding the software maker had illegally used his Windows operating system for PCs to stifle competition.CBS News, CBS News, 20 Nov. 2024
Verb
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Some family members choose to bury their heads in the sand and blame the victim rather than the offender.Harriette Cole, The Mercury News, 12 Nov. 2024
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Daniel Hunter, founder of Choose Democracy, an organization that provides resources to help Americans prepare for an undemocratic power grab, says his experience in activism has taught him that the solution isn’t to bury your head in the sand or jump to the worst-case scenario.Allie Volpe, Vox, 11 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Sitting around: The other culprit is letting that topping sit around for too long after baking but before serving, as the steam emanating from the casserole will kill that crunch.Jill Schildhouse, Southern Living, 5 Nov. 2024
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Daniel Alvarez is in the business of finding solutions to reduce their waste steam and lower costs.Austin Corona, The Arizona Republic, 4 Nov. 2024
Verb
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Armed with that information, off-roading is a lot less likely to be marred by choking, toxic smoke that comes along with dangerous levels of combustion if users know which areas to avoid.Kristin Shaw, Popular Science, 14 Nov. 2024
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He is accused of fatally choking 30-year-old Jordan Neely on a New York City subway in 2023.David Faris, Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2024
Verb
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According to Richard Seager, a climate scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the cause of the current drought is some random atmospheric variability: a high-pressure system over the central and eastern United States that is suppressing rainfall and refusing to budge.M. R. O’Connor, The New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2024
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How to cope right now Don’t suppress your emotions, process them In the immediate aftermath of the election results, you may be flooded with emotions ranging from despair to rage.Allie Volpe, Vox, 11 Nov. 2024
Verb
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To The End is an intimate glimpse into relationships, motivation and mortality, the sights and sounds of long-term friendship unearthing a fresh new conquest to overcome together.Matthew Carey, Deadline, 22 Nov. 2024
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Decades later, the term is still used whenever British people need to overcome the odds.Gregory Wakeman, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Nov. 2024
Noun
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This increase is due to higher software expenses and cloud hosting services.Quartz Bot, Quartz, 19 Nov. 2024
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The technique, also known as solar radiation management, encompasses a range of technologies including sunshields in space, marine cloud brightening and stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI).Lara Williams, The Mercury News, 15 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near smother
Cite this Entry
“Smother.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smother. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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