smother

Spain’s formidable defense helped it smother a France team that looked invincible before wilting during a 2-0 World Cup semifinal loss Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

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

Thick layers of dust smother giant grinding and pressing machines, while only a tiny crew of workers transfer the last batch made three weeks ago off snaking assembly lines and into trucks.

From Barron's ● Mar. 29, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025

All day, while at some task, he would pause and giggle, then smother it with his hand, looking at me out of the corner of his eyes, shaking his head.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

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

Mustard also smothers native plants, transforming the landscape.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 15, 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

But some asteroids occupy corners of the sky in which the sun’s glare smothers them, and, like embers flitting in front of a thermonuclear bonfire, they fade from view.

From New York Times ● Oct. 31, 2022

All it took was a fire, nearly dying, and being rescued by humans and healed in a box to make me feel it: a desire to play that smothers everything else.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

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

They raced to Susman’s home, loaded the computer in her station wagon, smothered the machine in pillows and blankets—and buckled the seat belt.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 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

Meaning: Do you want your dish smothered in sauce made from roasted green chiles, or a simmered counterpart fashioned from dried red chile pods?

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

My grandmother was tremendously old and wrinkled, with a massive wide body which was smothered in grey lace.

From "The Witches" by Roald Dahl

Spain clinched a berth to the final Tuesday by smothering France 2-0 at AT&T Stadium, running its unbeaten streak to 37 games while eliminating a team that had run roughshod through the tournament.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 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

Minnesota's smothering defence was again enough to win the game though, with Brian Flores' unit starring in their four-game winning streak to end the season in positive fashion.

From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025

Headstrong, queer and disinterested in Victorian pieties, she escaped her smothering Indianapolis family and headed to Chicago, where she hustled work as a bookseller and book reviewer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025

Then the shelter collapsed with smothering finality; and the anonymous shapes fought their way out and through.

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding