: a lack of oxygen or excess of carbon dioxide in the body that results in unconsciousness and often death and is usually caused by interruption of breathing or inadequate oxygen supply
2
: the state of being stifled or suppressed
As a patient in hospital I felt both anguish and asphyxia—the anguish of being confronted with dissolution, and asphyxia because I could not be heard. Oliver Sacks
Example Sentences
The cause of death was asphyxia.
Recent Examples on the WebHer cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning and her death was ruled an accident, according to the coroner’s office. Alexandra Kukulka, Chicago Tribune, 13 July 2022 The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office determined the cause of death as asphyxia due to a restraint technique used by officers, but other experts came to different conclusions. Drake Bentley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 19 Mar. 2022 The real Bobby Edward Fort died of asphyxia in Dallas in 1967, while Montague died in 1968 in Burnet. Chris Harris, PEOPLE.com, 28 July 2022 Artists ensuring crowd safety during their shows has become a common theme since the Astroworld Festival tragedy, where 10 concertgoers died of compression asphyxia during Scott’s headlining set in November. Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2022 Compression asphyxia was listed a cause of death for all ten victims. Zoe Christen Jones, CBS News, 16 Dec. 2021 Both participated in the 12-hour exorcism in a small, makeshift Pentecostal church in San Jose called Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas in which the child, Arely Naomi Proctor, was smothered and strangled until dying of asphyxia, prosecutors said.Fox News, 14 May 2022 The Alaska State Medical Examiner Office determined the death was due to asphyxia, ruling out sudden infant death syndrome. Hope Hodge Seck, Anchorage Daily News, 11 Feb. 2022 Other bills include a duty-to-intercede requirement and prohibitions against techniques that involve substantial risk of positional asphyxia. Lyndsay Winkley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 May 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
New Latin, from Greek, stopping of the pulse, from a- + sphyzein to throb