# strangle

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈstɹæŋɡ(ə)l/ · frequency rank #27,660

## Definitions
1. To kill someone by squeezing the throat so as to cut off the oxygen supply; to choke, suffocate or throttle.
2. To stifle or suppress.
3. To be killed by strangulation, or become strangled.
4. To be stifled, choked, or suffocated in any manner.

## Etymology
From Middle English stranglen, from Old French estrangler, from Latin strangulō, strangulāre, from Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι (strangalóomai, “to be strangled”), from στραγγάλη (strangálē, “a halter”); compare στραγγός (strangós, “twisted”) and string. Displaced Middle English wirien, awurien (“to strangle”) (> English worry).

## Easily confused with
- **struggle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strangle-vs-struggle)
- **strongly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strangle-vs-strongly)
- **strange** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-strangle)
- **stranger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stranger-vs-strangle)
- **straddle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/straddle-vs-strangle)
- **strangely** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strangely-vs-strangle)

## Common misspellings (13)
`srtangle`, `sstrangle`, `starngle`, `stragnle`, `strangel`, `stranggle`, `stranglle`, `stranlge`, `stranngle`, `strnagle`, `strrangle`, `sttrangle`, `tsrangle`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/strangle