Smothering is a term that can be used in a variety of contexts, but at its core, it refers to an act of suffocation, suppression, or extinguishing. In a literal sense, smothering can refer to the act of extinguishing a fire or flame, or to suffocating or depriving someone or something of air. However, the term has also taken on a more figurative meaning, often used to describe the act of suppressing or stifling something, whether it be emotions, creativity, or even a person's potential. One area where smothering is often discussed is in the context of relationships. When one partner in a relationship becomes overly controlling or possessive, it can feel like they are smothering the other person, suffocating their autonomy and independence. Similarly, parents who are overly protective or controlling can smother their children, preventing them from developing their own sense of identity and independence. In a creative context, smothering can refer to the act of stifling one's own creativity or the creativity of others. This can happen when someone is overly critical of their own work, or when others are dismissive or unsupportive of creative endeavors. When creativity is smothered in this way, it can be difficult to break free and explore new ideas. Overall, smothering is a term that can be used to describe a wide range of actions and behaviors, all of which involve some form of suffocation or suppression. Whether it's in a literal sense, such as extinguishing a fire, or a more figurative sense, such as stifling creativity, smothering can have a profound impact on individuals and their relationships.
Suffocation, Suppression, Control, Autonomy, Creativity
The word “smother” belongs to the parts of speech of verbs. It means to extinguish or suppress something, to suffocate or “blanket” something with an amount that is too much or too strong. Synonyms for this verbs includes stifle, suppress, strangle, choke, quench, snuff and asphyxiate. Antonyms for this word include encourage and promote, while cognates include words like English 'smother', German 'smottern', Old Norse 'smotha' and Gothic 'smuzdan'. Variants of this word include smothered, smothering and smothers.
Morphemes, Linguistics, Semantics, Diachronic, Synchronic
The English word “Smother” has a rich and diverse etymology, and over the centuries has expanded to include numerous interpretations. Dating back to Middle English, the term is believed to have originated from the Old English “Smoder” and the Old Dutch “Smoter”. Its semantics have evolved from the descriptive verbs “smother” and “smothering” originally meaning “to oppress or stifle” with “suffocation” or “drowning” or “choking” in smoke. However, the word has since transcended from the literal to the figurative, often signifying “depress”, “confuse”, “cover”, or “dominate”. Furthermore, the term has gone through a process of morphological evolution, now used to form adjectives such as “smotherly” and “smothering”, as well as nouns such as “smotherer” and “smothering”, amongst others. In modern English, “smother” is often used in a broader sense to indicate suppression of feeling, the covering of something, or a misdirection of attention.
Etymology, Morphology, Pragmatics, Smother, Middle English, Old English, Old Dutch
With respect to its lexical meaning, the word smother refers to an act of suppressing or extinguishing a fire or flame, or to stifling, suffocating, or depriving of air. In other languages, related words for smother, in this sense, including Spanish ahogar, Italian soffocare, French étouffer, German ersticken, Chinese dào, Japanese gomu, Russian zadyhivat'sya, Dutch smoren, Portuguese sufocar, Swedish strypa and Finnish tukehtua.
Ahogar, soffocare, étouffer, ersticken, dào, gomu, zadyhivat'sya, smoren, sufocar, strypa, tukehtua
Smothering is a composition technique used in anime, comics and manga to depict a gerund, action or verb. It is usually used when a character is expressing strong emotions such as rage, excitement or sorrow and is a form of dynamic expression. In this technique, smothering is usually depicted by a character's body being enveloped in a dark mist or aura, or surrounded by thick layers of lines, shading or outlines. This type of composition adds a sense of depth and emotion to the scene, making it more dramatic and impactful.
Anime, manga, comic, smothering, gerund, dynamic expression.
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