- the act of killing by preventing air from getting to the blood through the lungs or gills; strangulation: A crushing neck injury resulted in the child’s suffocation.
- difficulty breathing or inability to breathe, or any act that causes this: One protestor endured temporary suffocation from tear gas.
- the act of making someone uncomfortable, or the fact of becoming uncomfortable, through lack of fresh air: Every noon, the market was crowded; but on Sundays, it was crowded to the point of suffocation.
- the act or practice of thwarting someone’s self-expression, freedom, independence, etc.: Under the military regime there was so much suffocation of the media—they even burned down news offices.
