1. A condition caused by blocking the airways to the lungs (as with food or swelling of the larynx)
   "His choking on a piece of steak required immediate intervention"
    
2. The act of suffocating someone by constricting the windpipe
   "no evidence that the choking was done by the accused";
   - strangling, strangulation, throttling

1. Causing difficulty in breathing especially through lack of fresh air and presence of heat
   "the choking June dust";
   - smothering, suffocating, suffocative

1. Breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion
   "She choked with emotion when she spoke about her deceased husband"
    
2. Struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake
   "he swallowed a fishbone and choked";
   - gag, strangle, suffocate
    
3. Impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
   "The foul air was slowly choking the children";
   - suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate
    
4. Become or cause to become obstructed
   "The leaves choke off our drains in the Fall";
   - clog, choke off, clog up, back up, congest, foul
    
5. Check or slow down the action or effect of
   "She choked her anger"
    
6. Fail to perform adequately due to tension or agitation
   "The team should have won hands down but choked, disappointing the coach and the audience"
    
7. Be too tight; rub or press
   "This neckband is choking the cat";
   - gag, fret
    
8. Wring the neck of
   "The man choked his opponent";
   - scrag [N. Amer, informal]
    
9. Become stultified, suppressed, or stifled
   "He is choking — living at home with his aged parents in the small village";
   - suffocate
    
10. Suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of
    "His job choked him";
    - suffocate
     
11. Reduce the air supply
    "choke a carburettor";
    - throttle
     
12. Cause to retch or choke
    "The thick smoke choked the firefighters";
    - gag
     
13. Compress or constrict the throat or windpipe cutting off air for breathing, potentially causing death
    "The attacker tried to choke his victim";
    - strangle, strangulate, throttle

Derived forms: chokings

See also: breathless, dyspneal [N. Amer], dyspneic, dyspnoeal [Brit, Cdn], dyspnoeic

Type of: ache, asphyxiation, become, block, bottle up, breathe, close up, compact, compress, constrict, contract, dampen, disorder, enrich, fail, hurt, impede, inhibit, jam, kill, neglect, obstruct, obturate, occlude, press, respire, sicken, squeeze, stifle, suffer, suffocation, suppress, suspire [literary], take a breath, turn, upset

Encyclopedia: Choking