MEANING
To cover something closely enough to suppress it, especially to suffocate a person or extinguish a flame.
Use it for
A face forced under a covering; sound suppressed during an attack; a flame deprived of airGive deprivation a close, enveloping physical cause.
Words that belong together
- smother with a pillow
- smother a cry
- smother the flames
On the page
Someone had tried to smother the patient with a pillow.
She smothered the small flame beneath a wet cloth.
His attempt to smother her cry left fibers against her lips.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- smother / smothers
- Past tense
- smothered
- Past participle
- smothered
- Present participle
- smothering
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- smother / smothers
- Present continuous
- am/is/are smothering
- Present perfect
- have/has smothered
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been smothering
- Past
- smothered
- Past continuous
- was/were smothering
- Past perfect
- had smothered
- Past perfect continuous
- had been smothering
- Future
- will smother / smothers
- Future continuous
- will be smothering
- Future perfect
- will have smothered
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been smothering
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: horror. In violent use, contact with a covering is the mechanism; suffocate is broader. Figurative affection that smothers is not equivalent to attempted killing. Verb [base, third-person present, past, past participle, -ing]: smother, smothers, smothered, smothered, smothering.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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