smother

He said it took him five minutes to smother the flames with a fire blanket before he noticed his whole house was becoming enveloped in smoke.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

The challenge for policymakers, then, is to resist the temptation to smother AI with fear.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025

Critics fear deep-sea mining will smother marine life with waste and the noise of heavy machinery will disrupt oceanic migrations.

From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2025

Rising land prices smother our ability to move, suppress fertility rates, stifle innovation, and hoover up resources that might be deployed elsewhere.

From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2025

It took almost nothing to smother it, just a few small pats with the black potato pot.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

L.A.’s heat-seeking “Showtime” franchise is obsessed over more than any other, in good times and especially troubled ones, to the point where it smothers other NBA coverage and drives many fans nuts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2025

The soil burns and sloughs off, leading to massive post-fire erosion that smothers coral, impacts fisheries and reduces the quality of the ocean water, she said.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2023

Mr. Prigozhin frequently belittled General Gerasimov in his Telegram audio messages, implying that he was an office-bound official of the kind that smothers regular soldiers with bureaucracy.

From New York Times ● Jun. 27, 2023

The surges of emotion are still there, the final comeuppances still rousing, even if the climax itself smothers its most electrifying twist with some predictably ostentatious visual effects.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2022

She looks away again as her shyness smothers her.

From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak

Workers sweated in choking heat and pupils stayed home on Tuesday as an early-summer heatwave smothered much of Europe, sparking health warnings.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

He has added gold trim to the crown molding, smothered the walls with gold-framed artworks and gold-painted embellishments, placed inch-thick gold coasters on the desk, and lined up gold urns on the mantel.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

Of course, the barbershop, where ball talk is real talk, and where the expectations around the Dodgers upcoming quest for a three-peat recently smothered me like a hot towel to the head.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026

In rockpools, starfish, limpets and other wildlife were smothered - while Pembrokeshire's fishing industry was brought to a standstill for more than 18 months.

From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2026

Then she buried her head under a pillow, from which some sort of unidentifiable, repetitive, smothered sound—weeping? sneezing? giggling?—could be heard.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

I had to see Fanning in a half-dozen better roles before she felt free of Refn’s smothering gaze.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Some species may have acted as fire ladders, helping flames move through the landscape while also crowding out and smothering other vegetation.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026

The blaze at Jatiwaringin landfill, on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, has spread across more than 15 hectares, smothering the area in thick, toxic smoke and displacing hundreds of local residents.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

A massive front of hot air from North Africa was smothering western Europe, Sebastien Leas, a forecaster at France's weather service Meteo-France, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secredy, I was really, really glad to see her.

From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan