garrote

variants or garotte
as in to strangle
to keep (someone) from breathing by exerting pressure on the windpipe the goons sent by the loan shark threatened to garrote the hero with his own necktie

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of garrote That means the Senate's only practical effect is adding another point at which oligarch lobbyists can garrote popular policy. Ryan Cooper, The Week, 29 Oct. 2021 Tony, unhindered by any sense of moral anguish, garrotes the man in broad daylight with a length of cable. Adam Wilson, Harper's magazine, 16 Sep. 2019 Sometimes the line between good writing and bad writing can be as thin as the piano wire with which a madman garrotes his victims. Laura Miller, Slate Magazine, 15 Aug. 2017 Last year, he was garroted by saw briars—the vicious inch-long thorns that lace the course—which left bleeding gashes across his neck. George Pendle, Esquire, 26 July 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for garrote
Verb
  • Menzies was convicted of the 1986 murder of 26-year-old Maurine Hunsaker, a married mother of three who was kidnapped, robbed, strangled, and found tied to a tree with her throat slit.
    Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 11 July 2025
  • Most of the victims were strangled or asphyxiated, and Gacy buried 26 of the bodies in the crawl space beneath his home; others were found in Chicago waterways, per NPR.
    Nicole Acosta, People.com, 8 July 2025
Verb
  • The District Attorney’s Office also said that in the year before her death, Brendan Doyle choked his mother in order to force her to write him two checks totaling $1,000.
    City News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 July 2025
  • Trying to dislodge it, the rostrum punched through the gills, impaling the animal, dragging it down and slowly choking it to death.
    David Bressan, Forbes.com, 29 July 2025
Verb
  • SpaceX can also throttle a Roam subscriber's access or impose extra fees if their Starlink dish is used in a highly congested area.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 21 July 2025
  • Volcker’s willingness to inflict pain on the economy to throttle inflation is seen by most economists as a key example of the value of an independent Fed.
    Christopher Rugaber, Chicago Tribune, 18 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Garrote.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/garrote. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.

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