smother

1. 1.

   a confused multitude of things

   Synonymsclutterjumblemuddlefuddlemare's nestwelter

   Broaderdisorderliness

   Narrowerrummage
2. 2.

   a stifling cloud of smoke

   Broadersmoke

Other forms of smother

plural

smothers·

past tense

smotherred·

present participle

smotherring·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about smother

What does smother mean?

smother means "envelop completely". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in smother?

smother has 2 syllables: smot-her. The stress falls on "smot". In IPA it is /ˈsmʌðɚ/.

What is another word for smother?

Close synonyms include surround, asphyxiate, suffocate, stifle, strangle. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is smother a common word?

smother is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.