smother

Syllables: smoth·er/ˈsmʌðə/US/ˈsməðər/

smother verb: to suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.

Verb

smother (third-person singular simple present smothers, present participle smothering, simple past and past participle smothered)

(transitive) To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
- He smothered her by pressing his hand over her mouth.
- But I am Pestilence;—hither and thither
  I flit about, that I may slay and smother;—
  All lips which I have kissed must surely wither,
  But Death’s—if thou art he, we’ll go to work together!1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC...
Synonyms:

suffocate, choke, stifle

Antonyms:

ventilate
(transitive) To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.
- to smother a fire with ashes
(transitive) To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish
- The committee's report was smothered.
Synonyms:

stifle, cover up, conceal, hide

Antonyms:

release
(transitive) To cook in a close dish.
- beefsteak smothered with onions
(transitive) To daub or smear.
- And I keep quite a lot of it around, especially chocolate-covered almonds and Trader Joes minipretzels smothered in dark chocolate.2007 October 30, Jane E. Brody, “My Diet Strategy? Controlled Indulgence”, in The New York Times
(intransitive) To be suffocated.
- She is smothered by the rope.
Synonyms:

choke, stifle
(intransitive) To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
(intransitive) to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
(figuratively, intransitive) to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
- Emmanuel Adebayor's touch proved a fraction heavy as he guided Van der Vaart's exquisite long ball round John Ruddy, before the goalkeeper did well to smother Bale's shot from Modric's weighted pass.2011 December 27, Mike Henson, “Norwich 0 - 2 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport
(Australian rules football) To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away.
To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.

Noun

smother (countable and uncountable, plural smothers)

Smoldering; slow combustion.
Cookware used in such cooking.
- Thus must I from the smoke into the smother […]c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
(dated) The state of being stifled; suppression.
- not to keep their suspicions in smother1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Suspicion”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
(dated) Stifling smoke; thick dust.
- Thus must I from the smoke into the smother, / From tyrant duke unto tyrant brother.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Then we passed the Grand Opéra, at which our fine taste revolted; the Rue de la Paix, all in a smother with the dust caused by its improvement, at which our eyes naturally distilled water; […]1868, Judy, volumes 3-4, page 20
(Australian rules football) The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).

smother meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

smother in Malayalam

കനമേറിയ ഒഴുകിനടക്കുന്ന പൊടി, ശബ്ദകോലാഹലം, നിരപ്പാക്കുന്നവൻ, ചിന്തേര്, ഇസ്തിരിപ്പെട്ടി

smother in Kannada

ಉಸಿರಡಗಿಸು, ಮುಚ್ಚಿ ನಂದಿಸು, ತಡೆಹಿಡಿ, ಹತ್ತಿಕ್ಕು, ಕವಿ, ಮುಚ್ಚು

More languagesFewer languages

smother in Odia: କୁହୁଳିବା kuhuḷibā

Examples of smother in a sentence

How many frowardnesses of ours does he smother?
This calamity morphed into a mud flow kilometers long that smothered a village.
“The first one had her throat cut and the second one was smothered by a pillow.

All 38 example sentences with smother

Synonyms of smother

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of smother

Forms of smother

Verb
third-person singular present	smothers
present participle	smothering
past participle	smothered
past	smothered
alternative form (obsolete)	smoother
Noun
plural	smothers

Past tense of smother: smothered

Origin of smother

From Middle English smothren, smortheren, alteration (due to smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”, noun)) of Middle English smoren (“to smother”), from Old English smorian (“to smother, suffocate, choke”), from Proto-West Germanic *smorōn, from Proto-Germanic *smurōną (“to suffocate, strangle”), probably related to *smallijan (“to burn”) or Old English smoca (“smoke”). Cognate with Middle Low German smoren, smurten (“to choke, suffocate”), West Flemish smoren (“to smoke, reek”), Dutch smoren (“to suffocate, smother", also "to stew, simmer”), German schmoren (“to stew, simmer, braise”).

From Middle English smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”), from Old English smorþor (“smoke”, literally “that which suffocates”), from smorian (“to suffocate, choke”) + -þor (instrumental suffix).

Words formed from smother

Phrases with smother

Words that rhyme with smother

Questions about smother

What does smother mean?: Smother means to suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
What is smother in Tamil?: Smother in Tamil is புகை, முழுமையாய் மூடு. See Smother meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is smother?: Smother can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce smother?: Smother is pronounced /ˈsməðər/ (US).
What is the past tense of smother?: The past tense of smother is smothered.

Words near smother in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: smother (page history and authors); smother (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); smother (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); smother (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); smother (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); କୁହୁଳିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-smother.wav.

Cite this entry: “smother.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/smother. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.