Strangle Meaning
/ˈstɹæŋɡəl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo kill someone by squeezing the throat so as to cut off the oxygen supply; to choke, suffocate or throttle.
verbTo kill someone by squeezing the throat so as to cut off the oxygen supply.
Sentence Examples
Tom couldn't quite bring himself to strangle Mary.
The first person to repeat that to my wife, I will strangle. Understood?
CEFR Practice Quiz
A rope can be used to ____ someone in a violent attack.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new regulations could ____ the growth of local businesses by making it too difficult to hire help.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English stranglen, from Old French estrangler, from Latin strangulō, strangulāre, from Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι (strangalóomai, “to be strangled”), from στραγγάλη (strangálē, “a halter”); compare στραγγός (strangós, “twisted”) and string. Displaced Middle English wirien, awurien (“to strangle”) (> English worry).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And his subjects wrung all they could wring / Out of temple and palace and store. / But when there seemed no more to bring, / His captors convicted the king / Of once having started a war, / And strangled the wretch with a string."
— 1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:
"Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, / […] And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?"
— c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
"Her, vvhom his furie hath from earth exil'd, / And in the ſtrangling vvaters drencht his child; […]"
— 1626, Ovid, “The Eighth Booke”, in George Sandys, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphosis Englished […], London: […] William Stansby, →OCLC, page 165:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A rope can be used to ____ someone in a violent attack.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new regulations could ____ the growth of local businesses by making it too difficult to hire help.