"stifling" in the noun sense
1. suppression, crushing, quelling, stifling
forceful prevention putting down by power or authority
"the suppression of heresy"
"the quelling of the rebellion"
"the stifling of all dissent"
"stifling" in the verb sense
1. 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"
2. stifle, dampen
suppress or constrain so as to lessen in intensity
"Stifle your curiosity"
3. suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate, choke
impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
"The foul air was slowly suffocating the children"
4. suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate
be asphyxiated die from lack of oxygen
"The child suffocated under the pillow"
"stifling" in the adjective sense
1. sultry, stifling, sulfurous, sulphurous
characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
"the summer was sultry and oppressive"
"the stifling atmosphere"
"the sulfurous atmosphere preceding a thunderstorm"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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