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asphyxiate

[as-fik-see-ayt] / æsˈfɪk siˌeɪt /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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The allegations were released Thursday by Haiti’s antigovernment corruption unit, whose general director, Hans Joseph, pledged to go after those who “torpedo the public treasury and asphyxiate the country’s economic and social development efforts.”

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 26, 2022

Two physicians in the expert network, Dr. Karch and Dr. Theodore Chan, agreed with the coroner’s finding that Mr. Silva did not asphyxiate; Dr. Chan cited studies he had done on the subject.

From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2021

Avalanche victims can asphyxiate from breathing in carbon monoxide from their own exhalation while buried beneath the snow.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2021

At the same time, Lake Kivu, the body of water on whose shores Goma sits, could potentially asphyxiate millions in the event of an earthquake, thanks to gases building up beneath its surface.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2019

Poor engine hates it—coughing and spluttering the whole way—suppose I’m lucky I didn’t asphyxiate in the exhaust.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

Told that methylene chloride asphyxiates people at high enough levels, he said he didn’t want to talk about it.

From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2015

Their action takes place against cityscapes so steeped in shadowy, gas-lit mystique the reader practically asphyxiates.

From Slate ● Nov. 30, 2012

Stanley Greenfield, however, cynically argues that the revolt against the car may not take place until a thermal inversion, combined with a traffic jam out of Godard's Weekend, asphyxiates thousands on a freeway to nowhere.

From Time Magazine Archive

Be frank with Polk as to how much he asphyxiates me?

From The Tinder-Box by Maria Thompson Daviess

Ninety-nine out of every hundred people who visit picture galleries need to be delivered from that "museum atmosphere" which envelops works of art and asphyxiates beholders.

From Art by Clive Bell

It’s a fitting way to conclude an experience that’s like being slowly asphyxiated by puffy clouds of baby powder.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026

When Lake Nyos erupted in 1986, it asphyxiated nearly 2,000 people and wiped out four villages in Cameroon.

From National Geographic ● Jan. 18, 2024

For decades, many experts thought they asphyxiated amid the massive clouds of ash belched from the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

From Science Magazine ● Aug. 22, 2023

“I want to express my deepest condolences to the families of Mexican, Guatemalan and Honduran migrants who died yesterday asphyxiated in a trailer,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2022

Might we not be asphyxiated before the Nautilus could surface?

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Environmentalists also say that the transportation and injection of CO2 — an asphyxiating gas that displaces oxygen — could lead to dangerous leaks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2024

Daily updates from energy traders drop into their email inboxes, showing the asphyxiating upward climb of prices for the natural gas and electricity that power their energy-devouring business.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2022

As factories grew up across the city, the air outside became just as asphyxiating.

From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2022

But its popularity as a relatively low-cost, versatile destination has seen the number of visitors rise to the asphyxiating level of about 19 million a year.

From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2019

It was Paul Marshall who broke more than three minutes of asphyxiating silence.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan




Vocabulary lists containing asphyxiate


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