Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb smother

5 senses of smother

Sense 1
smother, surround -- (envelop completely; "smother the meat in gravy")
       => cover -- (provide with a covering or cause to be covered; "cover her face with a handkerchief"; "cover the child with a blanket"; "cover the grave with flowers")

Sense 2
smother, asphyxiate, suffocate -- (deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing; "Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow"; "The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor")
       => kill -- (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly; "This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank"; "The farmer killed a pig for the holidays")

Sense 3
smother, stifle, strangle, muffle, repress -- (conceal or hide; "smother a yawn"; "muffle one's anger"; "strangle a yawn")
       => suppress, stamp down, inhibit, subdue, conquer, curb -- (to put down by force or authority; "suppress a nascent uprising"; "stamp down on littering"; "conquer one's desires")

Sense 4
smother -- (form an impenetrable cover over; "the butter cream smothered the cake")
       => cover, spread over -- (form a cover over; "The grass covered the grave")

Sense 5
smother, put out -- (deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion; "smother fires")
       => snuff out, extinguish -- (put an end to; kill; "The Nazis snuffed out the life of many Jewish children")

Antonyms of adj smothering

1 sense of smothering

Sense 1
smothering, suffocating, suffocative -- (causing difficulty in breathing especially through lack of fresh air and presence of heat; "the choking June dust"; "the smothering soft voices"; "smothering heat"; "the room was suffocating--hot and airless")

INDIRECT (VIA breathless) -> breathing, eupneic, eupnoeic -- (passing or able to pass air in and out of the lungs normally; sometimes used in combination; "the boy was disappointed to find only skeletons instead of living breathing dinosaurs"; "the heavy-breathing person on the telephone")

Similarity of adj smothering

1 sense of smothering

Sense 1
smothering, suffocating, suffocative -- (causing difficulty in breathing especially through lack of fresh air and presence of heat; "the choking June dust"; "the smothering soft voices"; "smothering heat"; "the room was suffocating--hot and airless")
       => breathless (vs. breathing), dyspneic, dyspnoeic, dyspneal, dyspnoeal -- (not breathing or able to breathe except with difficulty; "breathless at thought of what I had done"; "breathless from running"; "followed the match with breathless interest")