"smothering" in the verb sense
1. smother, surround
envelop completely
"smother the meat in gravy"
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"
3. smother, stifle, strangle, muffle, repress
suppress in order to conceal or hide
"smother a yawn"
"muffle one's anger"
"strangle a laugh"
"repress a cry of fear"
4. smother
form an impenetrable cover over
"the butter cream smothered the cake"
5. smother, put out
deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion
"smother fires"
"smothering" in the adjective 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
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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