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Antonyms for smother

Grammar : Verb
Spell : smuhth -er
Phonetic Transcription : ˈsmʌð ər


Definition of smother

Origin :
  • c.1200, "to suffocate with smoke," from smother (n.), earlier smorthre "dense, suffocating smoke" (late 12c.), from stem of Old English smorian "to suffocate, choke, strangle, stifle," cognate with Middle Dutch smoren, German schmoren; possibly connected to smolder. Meaning "to kill by suffocation in any manner" is from 1540s; sense of "to extinguish a fire" is from 1590s. Sense of "stifle, repress" is first recorded 1570s; meaning "to cover thickly (with some substance)" is from 1590s. Related: Smothered; smothering.
  • verb extinguish; cover, hide
Example sentences :
  • Verloc, whose affair the police has managed to smother so nicely, was mediocre.
  • Extract from : « The Secret Agent » by Joseph Conrad
  • Pour it boiling on the cucumbers, and smother them as before.
  • Extract from : « The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory; » by Charlotte Campbell Bury
  • You would kill her, smother her dead in your arms, before you would give her to—that.
  • Extract from : « Things as They Are » by Amy Wilson-Carmichael
  • They had gone unheard and unseen, melting, as it were, in the shock and smother of the wave.
  • Extract from : « Typhoon » by Joseph Conrad
  • His eyebrows and hair were left behind in the smother of flame.
  • Extract from : « Garrison's Finish » by W. B. M. Ferguson
  • She tried to smother a little feeling of hurt because Isobel had deserted her.
  • Extract from : « Highacres » by Jane Abbott
  • It needed only a few seconds to drop over the performer, to burn and smother him.
  • Extract from : « Tom Swift and his Motor-boat » by Victor Appleton
  • To smother the rush of words which were gathering at his lips, he raised his cup and drank.
  • Extract from : « The Lure of the Mask » by Harold MacGrath
  • The fluff from the work seemed to smother Connie that morning.
  • Extract from : « Sue, A Little Heroine » by L. T. Meade
  • He seemed to smother the words by stooping to kiss her good-by.
  • Extract from : « The Letter of the Contract » by Basil King

Synonyms for smother

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019