different between suffocate vs asphyxia

English

Etymology

From Latin suffocatus, past participle of suffocare (“to choke, stifle”), from sub (“under”) + faux (“the upper part of the throat, the pharynx”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /?s?f?ke?t/
• (adjective) IPA^(key): /?s?f?k?t/

Verb

suffocate (third-person singular simple present suffocates, present participle suffocating, simple past and past participle suffocated)

1. (ergative) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
2. (ergative) To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.

3. (ergative, figuratively) To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.
4. (transitive) To destroy; to extinguish.

Synonyms

• (To suffer from reduced oxygen): asphyxiate, choke
• (To die from insufficient oxygen): stifle, choke
• (To be overwhelmed): drown
• (To reduce oxygen supply): asphyxiate, choke, smother
• (To kill by deprivation of oxygen): asphyxiate, choke, stifle
• (To make weary with contact): smother

Derived terms

• suffocation

Related terms

• asphyxia

Translations

Adjective

suffocate (comparative more suffocate, superlative most suffocate)

1. (obsolete) Suffocated; choked.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• offuscate

Latin

Verb

suff?c?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of suff?c?

English

Etymology

New Latin, from Ancient Greek ??????? (asphuxía, “stopping of the pulse”): ?- (a-, “not”) + ?????? (sphúxis, “heartbeat”) (from ????-, ????? (sphúz?, “I throb”)).

Noun

asphyxia (countable and uncountable, plural asphyxias)

1. Loss of consciousness due to the interruption of breathing and consequent anoxia.

   Asphyxia may result from choking, drowning, electric shock, or injury.

2. Loss of consciousness due to the body's inability to deliver oxygen to its tissues, either by the breathing of air lacking oxygen or by the inability of the blood to carry oxygen.
3. (medicine, obsolete) A condition in which an extreme decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the body leads to loss of consciousness or death. Replaced in the mid-20th century by the more specific terms anoxia, hypoxia, hypoxemia and hypercapnia.
   • 1895. Robley Dunglison and Richard J. Dunglison, A Dictionary of Medical Science containing a full explanation of the various subjects and terms of anatomy, physiology, medical chemistry, pharmacy, pharmacology, therapeutics, medicine, hygiene, dietetics, pathology, bacteriology, surgery, ophthalmology, otology, laryngology, dermatology, gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics, medical jurisprudence, dentistry, etc. 21 edition:

     Hypoxaemia [...is] a deficient oxygenation of the blood; asphyxia from defective oxygenation of the blood.

Derived terms

• asphyxial
• asphyxiant
• asphyxiate
• asphyxiation

Related terms

• asphyxy

Translations

See also

• suffocation
• anoxia
• hypoxia
• anoxemia
• hypoxemia
• hypercapnia

French

Verb

asphyxia

1. third-person singular past historic of asphyxier