choke
/t͡ʃoʊk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.72 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe (for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way, or fumes or particles in the air that cause the throat to constrict).
Intransitive verb
verb
To prevent (someone) from breathing or talking by strangling or filling the windpipe.
Transitive verb
verb
To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to kill (a plant by robbing it of nutrients); to extinguish (fire by robbing it of oxygen).
Transitive verb
verb
To perform badly at a crucial stage of a competition, especially when one appears to be clearly winning.
Colloquial; Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Ever since he choked on a bone, he has refused to eat fish."
- "Lenore began to choke with the fine dust and to feel her eyes smart and to see it settle on her hands and dress."
- "See your brain - Choke, choke, choke Watch it drain - Choke, choke, choke See your greed - Choke, choke, choke Watch it breed - Choke, choke, choke Fake, you're falling down Choke, your neck is broken"
- "Passengers on the earliest railway services would not even have enjoyed the luxury of a platform, instead having to step up onto the waiting open top wagons, where they would experience a journey that left many choking on the plumes of smoke exhaled by the leading locomotive."
- "The collar of this shirt is too tight; it’s choking me."
- "With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder:"
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: choken, āċēocian, ċēoce
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /t͡ʃoʊk/
- British English: /t͡ʃəʊk/