---
title: stifle — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «stifle» in the school dictionary: To stifle a sound is to hold it back so that nobody hears it. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# stifle

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** nobody, person, She, He, his, thick blanket · **What happens:** stifle, be, hear, stop, giggle · **To what, where:** sound, fire, breath, yawn, giggle, sleeve

<!-- .vabout -->
«stifle» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [stifle in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/stifle.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To stifle a sound is to hold it back so that nobody hears it.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:stifle:m1:1
# text = To stifle a sound is to hold it back so that nobody hears it.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stifle	stifle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	hold	hold	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
10	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	13	mark	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	13	nsubj	_	_
13	hears	hear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stifle** | to-infinitive |  | a sound |  |  |  |  | vn suffocate-40.7 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent sound=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | hold *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hear** | present | nobody | sound |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To stifle a fire or a person is to smother it or stop its breath or flame.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:stifle:m2:1
# text = To stifle a fire or a person is to smother it or stop its breath or flame.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stifle	stifle	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	smother	smother	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	flame	flame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stifle** | to-infinitive |  | a fire |  |  |  |  | vn suffocate-40.7 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent fire=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present | a person |  |  |  |  | smother *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **stop** | infinitive | a person *not said here* | person's breath or flame |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality breath=Eventuality |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She stifled a yawn.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:stifle:x1:1
# text = She stifled a yawn.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stifled	stifle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	yawn	yawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stifle** | past | She | a yawn |  |  |  |  | vn suffocate-40.7 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent yawn=Patient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He stifled his giggle in his sleeve.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:stifle:x2:1
# text = He stifled his giggle in his sleeve.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stifled	stifle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	giggle	giggle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	sleeve	sleeve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stifle** | past | He | his giggle |  | his sleeve |  |  | vn suffocate-40.7 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent giggle=Patient |
| 2 | **giggle** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom giggle «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The thick blanket stifled the flames.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:stifle:x3:1
# text = The thick blanket stifled the flames.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	blanket	blanket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stifled	stifle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stifle** | past | the thick blanket | the flames |  |  |  |  | vn suffocate-40.7 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent flame=Patient |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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