suffocate

10 03 2010

Verbs
1. (verb) asphyxiate, smother, suffocate;
  - deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing;
  - “Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow”; “The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor”;

2. (verb) asphyxiate, choke, stifle, suffocate;
  - impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of;
  - “The foul air was slowly suffocating the children”;

3. (verb) choke, suffocate;
  - become stultified, suppressed, or stifled;
  - “He is suffocating–living at home with his aged parents in the small village”;

4. (verb) choke, suffocate;
  - suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of;
  - “His job suffocated him”;

5. (verb) asphyxiate, stifle, suffocate;
  - be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen;
  - “The child suffocated under the pillow”;

6. (verb) suffocate;
  - feel uncomfortable for lack of fresh air;
  - “The room was hot and stuffy and we were suffocating”;

7. (verb) choke, gag, strangle, suffocate;
  - struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake;
  - “he swallowed a fishbone and gagged”;


   


mollify

9 03 2010

Verbs
1. (verb) appease, assuage, conciliate, gentle, gruntle, lenify, mollify, pacify, placate;
  - cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of;
  - “She managed to mollify the angry customer”;

2. (verb) mollify, season, temper;
  - make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate;
  - “she tempered her criticism”;

3. (verb) mollify;
  - make less rigid or softer;


   


ostracism

8 03 2010

Nouns
1. (n.) banishment, coventry, ostracism;
  - the state of being banished or ostracized (excluded from society by general consent);
  - “the association should get rid of its elderly members–not by euthanasia, of course, but by Coventry”;

2. (n.) ostracism;
  - the act of excluding someone from society by general consent;


   


canvass

7 03 2010

Nouns
1. (n.) canvas, canvass;
  - the setting for a narrative or fictional or dramatic account;
  - “the crowded canvas of history”; “the movie demanded a dramatic canvas of sound”;

2. (n.) canvass, opinion poll, poll, public opinion poll;
  - an inquiry into public opinion conducted by interviewing a random sample of people;

3. (n.) canvas, canvass, sail, sheet;
  - a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel;

4. (n.) canvas, canvas tent, canvass;
  - a tent made of canvas fabric;

5. (n.) canvas, canvass;
  - an oil painting on canvas fabric;

6. (n.) canvas, canvass;
  - the mat that forms the floor of the ring in which boxers or professional wrestlers compete;
  - “the boxer picked himself up off the canvas”;

7. (n.) canvas, canvass;
  - a heavy, closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs or sails or tents);

Verbs
1. (verb) canvas, canvass, poll;
  - get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions;

2. (verb) canvas, canvass;
  - solicit votes from potential voters in an electoral campaign;

3. (verb) analyse, analyze, canvas, canvass, examine, study;
  - consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning;
  - “analyze a sonnet by Shakespeare”; “analyze the evidence in a criminal trial”; “analyze your real motives”;


   


lugubrious

6 03 2010

Adjectives
1. (adj.) lugubrious;
  - excessively mournful;