noun
- A condition caused by blocking the airways to the lungs (as with food or swelling of the larynx. )
- The act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe.
- usage: "no evidence that the choking was done by the accused"
- synonyms: strangling, strangulation, throttling
verb
- Breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion.
- usage: "She choked with emotion when she spoke about her deceased husband"
- synonyms: choke
- Be too tight; rub or press.
- usage: "This neckband is choking the cat"
- Wring the neck of.
- usage: "The man choked his opponent"
- Constrict (someone's) throat and keep from breathing.
- Struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake.
- usage: "he swallowed a fishbone and gagged"
- Fail to perform adequately due to tension or agitation.
- usage: "The team should have won hands down but choked, disappointing the coach and the audience"
- synonyms: choke
- Check or slow down the action or effect of.
- usage: "She choked her anger"
- synonyms: choke
- Become or cause to become obstructed.
- usage: "The leaves clog our drains in the Fall"; "The water pipe is backed up"
- Impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of.
- usage: "The foul air was slowly suffocating the children"
- synonyms: suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate, choke
- Become stultified, suppressed, or stifled.
- usage: "He is suffocating-living at home with his aged parents in the small village"
- Suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of.
- usage: "His job suffocated him"
- Pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life.
- usage: "She died from cancer"; "The children perished in the fire"; "The patient went peacefully"; "The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102"
- synonyms: die, decease, perish, go, exit, pass away, expire, pass, kick the bucket, cash in one's chips, buy the farm, conk, give-up the ghost, drop dead, pop off, choke, croak, snuff it
- Reduce the air supply.
- usage: "choke a carburetor"
- Cause to retch or choke.
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). choking. Retrieved September 22, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/choking/definitions/1189569 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "choking" http://smartdefine.org/choking/definitions/1189569 (accessed September 22, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, choking, Smart Define, viewed 22 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/choking/definitions/1189569>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "choking" 23 October 2010. Web. 22 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/choking/definitions/1189569> |