Sample sentences for STIFLE - verbalworkout.com

2 meanings

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1 —as in:
stifling the urge

Definition

to suppress (prevent something or decrease its development) — often political freedom

These excessive rules that stifle creativity.

stifle = suppress

Other Uses (with this meaning)

The authorities cracked down in an attempt to stifle dissent.

stifle = suppress

The book is so boring, it stifles whatever curiosity students bring tot he class.

stifles = suppresses

It is a stifling police state.

stifling = making it difficult for people to express themselves freely

I stifled my laugh.

stifled = suppressed

I stifled a giggle.
S.E. Hinton -- The Outsiders

stifled = suppressed (stopped)

Theresa put her hand to her mouth to stifle her scream, but it was still loud enough that the people at the nearby tables turned their heads.
Nicholas Sparks -- Message in a Bottle

stifle = suppress

I stifled a yawn, then looked at my watch.
Sarah Dessen -- Along for the Ride

stifled = suppressed (prevented something from happening)

Panicking, Cole stifled a cough—he didn't dare cough.
Ben Mikaeslen -- Touching Spirit Bear

stifled = suppressed (held back)

...they both had to stifle their laughs as Professor Trelawney gazed in their direction.
J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

stifle = suppress

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

2 —as in:
the heat is stifling

Definition

to make breathing difficult or impossible — often from heat or humidity

It was a hot, humid, stifling day.

stifling = making it difficult to breath

Other Uses (with this meaning)

The heat and humidity are stifling.

stifling = making it difficult to breath

Her perfume was stifling.

stifling = making it difficult to breath

The air seemed thick and stifling.
Nicholas Sparks -- The Guardian

stifling = making breathing more difficult — typically due to heat and humidity

In the summer's stifling heat, the room seemed airless and threatening.
Ben Mikaeslen -- Touching Spirit Bear

stifling = so hot and humid that breathing is more difficult

And she was stooped and seemed to be finding it hard to breathe, as if the air of that place stifled her.
C.S. Lewis -- The Magician's Nephew

stifled = made breathing difficult

The room was large and stifling, and, though it was already four o'clock, opening the windows admitted only a gust of hot shrubbery from the Park.
F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby

stifling = making breathing difficult — typically due to heat and humidity

The atmosphere is stifling, sluggish, leaden.
Anne Frank -- The Diary of a Young Girl

stifling = (figuratively) making breathing difficult

I didn't know if it was the emptiness, the stifling heat, or the fact it was only nine o'clock, but I couldn't settle into sleep despite how tired I was.
Sue Monk Kidd -- The Secret Life of Bees

stifling = making breathing more difficult

Home, home–a few small rooms, stiflingly over-inhabited by a man, by a periodically teeming woman, by a rabble of boys and girls of all ages.
Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World

stiflingly = uncomfortable (figuratively, making breathing difficult)

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

Less commonly:

Much more rarely, to stifle is used in the context of anatomy to refer to a four-legged animal's equivalent of the human knee (the joint between the upper and lower leg).

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