different between extinguish vs stifle

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin extinguo (“to put out (what is burning), quench, extinguish, deprive of life, destroy, abolish”), from ex (“out”) + stinguere (“to put out, quench, extinguish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?st??.?w??/

Verb

extinguish (third-person singular simple present extinguishes, present participle extinguishing, simple past and past participle extinguished)

1. (transitive) to put out, as in fire; to end burning; to quench
2. (transitive) to destroy or abolish something

   She extinguished all my hopes.

   They intended to extinguish the enemy by force of numbers

   • 1668 December 19, James Dalrymple, “Mr. Alexander Seaton contra Menzies” in The Deci?ions of the Lords of Council & Se??ion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 575

     The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Di?charge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extingui?h the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and con?equently of all the re?t, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Di?charged as to one, and ?tand as to all the re?t.

3. (transitive) to obscure or eclipse something

   The rays of the sun were extinguished by the thunder clouds.

   A beauty that extinguishes all others by comparison

4. (transitive, psychology) to bring about the extinction of a conditioned reflex

   Many patients can extinguish their phobias after a few months of treatment.

5. (transitive, literally) to hunt down (a species) to extinction
6. (intransitive) To die out.

Synonyms

• put out, quench, douse
• See also Thesaurus:destroy

Related terms

• distinguish
• extinct
• extinction
• extinguisher
• fire extinguisher

Translations

Further reading

• extinguish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• extinguish in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sta?fl?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sta?f(?)l/
• Rhymes: -a?f?l
• Hyphenation: stif?le

Etymology 1

The verb is derived from Late Middle English stuflen (“to have difficulty breathing due to heat, stifle; to suffocate by drowning, drown”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, perhaps from stuffen (“to kill by suffocation; to stifle from heat; to extinguish, suppress (body heat, breath, humour, etc.); to deprive a plant of the conditions necessary for growth, choke”) + -el- (derivational infix in verbs, often denoting diminutive, intensive, or repetitive actions or events). Stuffen is derived from Old French estofer, estouffer (“to choke, strangle, suffocate; (figuratively) to inhibit, prevent”) [and other forms] (modern French étouffer), a variant of estoper, estuper (“to block, plug, stop up; to stiffen, thicken”) (modern French étouper (“to caulk”)), influenced by estofer (“to pad, stuff; to upholster”) (modern French étoffer). Estoper is derived from Vulgar Latin *stupp?re, from Latin stuppa (“coarse flax, tow”) (as a stuffing material; from Ancient Greek ????? (stúp?), ?????? (stúpp?) (compare ????????? (stuppeîon)); probably from Pre-Greek) + -?re. According to the Oxford English Dictionary a derivation from Old Norse stífla (“to dam; to choke, stop up”) “appears untenable on the ground both of form and sense”.

The noun is derived from the verb.

Verb

stifle (third-person singular simple present stifles, present participle stifling, simple past and past participle stifled)

1. (transitive, also figuratively) To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) death by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.
   • 1708, Jonathan Swift, Accomplishment of the First Prediction

     I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room.
2. (transitive, hyperbolic) To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling.

3. (transitive, also figuratively) To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.
4. (transitive) To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium.
5. (transitive, figuratively)
   1. (transitive) To keep in, hold back, or repress (something).

      Synonyms: hinder, restrain, smother, suppress, throttle

      • 1723, Daniel Waterland, A Second Vindication of Christ's Divinity

        I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled.
   2. (transitive) To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress.
6. (transitive, agriculture (sericulture)) To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production.
7. (intransitive) To die of suffocation.

8. (intransitive, hyperbolic) To feel smothered; to find it difficult to breathe.

Conjugation

Alternative forms

• stifil (obsolete, 16th c.)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Thesaurus:die

Noun

stifle (plural stifles)

1. (rare) An act or state of being stifled.

Translations

Etymology 2

The noun is derived from Middle English stifle (“joint between the femur and tibia of a quadruped”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, probably derived from Anglo-Norman estive (“leg”), and Old French estive (“leg”) (compare Old French estival (“boot, shoe”)).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

stifle (plural stifles)

1. (zootomy) The joint between the femur and tibia in the hind leg of various four-legged mammals, especially horses, corresponding to the knee in humans.

   Synonym: stifle joint

2. (veterinary medicine) A bone disease of this region.

Derived terms

• stifle bone
• stifle joint

Translations

Verb

stifle (third-person singular simple present stifles, present participle stifling, simple past and past participle stifled)

1. (transitive) To cause (a dog, horse, or other four-legged mammal) to dislocate or sprain its stifle joint.

Derived terms

• stifling (noun)

Translations

Notes

References

Further reading

• asphyxia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• stifle joint on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “stifle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• filets, fistle, fliest, flites, itself