suffocate

What it means

1. ergativeTo suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.

   Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!

   1 more example

   It is because of freedom, one netizen replied: Like air, you may not realize its importance, but when suffocating, you would know how precious it is.

   2020 November 2, Jiu Xiao, “Chinese Communist Party Officials Push Anti-U.S. Propaganda While Sending Families to Live in the U.S.”, in Minghui

   Synonyms: asphyxiate, choke

2. ergativeTo die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.

   He suffocated his wife by holding a pillow over her head.

   1 more example

   Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.

   1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]

   Synonyms: stifle, choke, asphyxiate, choke, smother

3. ergativefigurativelyTo overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.

   I'm suffocating under this huge workload.

   1 more example

   If the trend to private cars continues, the more quickly will the road traffic suffocate itself, [...].

   1962 April, “London Airport rail link”, in Modern Railways, page 222

   Synonyms: drown, asphyxiate, choke, stifle

In a sentence

Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!

Where it comes from

1. Latinsuffōcō
2. Latinsuffōcātus
3. Middle Englishsuffocat(e)“deprived of air, suffocated”
4. Englishsuffocate

The adjective is first attested in the 1420s, the verb in 1526; from Middle English suffocat(e) (“deprived of air, suffocated”), borrowed from Latin suffōcātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin suffōcō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from sub- (“under, up to”) + fōx (“throat”, oblique stem in fōc-). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.