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Thwart vs Stifle - What's the difference?

thwart | stifle |

In transitive terms the difference between thwart and stifle

is that thwart is to prevent; to halt; to cause to fail; to foil; to frustrate while stifle is to treat a silkworm cocoon with steam as part of the process of silk production.

As an adjective thwart

is situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.

As an adverb thwart

is obliquely; transversely; athwart.

thwart

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To prevent; to halt; to cause to fail; to foil; to frustrate.
  • * South
    • The proposals of the one never thwarted the inclinations of the other.
  • * , chapter=22
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black), title=Internal Combustion
    • , chapter=2 citation , passage=More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=David Ornstein, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Arsenal 1-0 Everton , passage=Everton were now firmly on the back foot and it required some sharp work from Johnny Heitinga and Phil Jagielka to thwart Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen.}}
  • (obsolete) To move across or counter to; to cross.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
    • Swift as a shooting star / In autumn thwarts the night.

    Synonyms

    * See also * foil, frustrate, impede, spoil

    Derived terms

    * athwart * athwartships * thwarter * thwartsome

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (breadth) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.
    • A well made doughout canoe rarely needs a thwart .
  • (nautical) A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.
    • The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.

    Related terms

    * beam

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.
  • * Milton
    • Moved contrary with thwart obliquities.
  • (figurative) Perverse; crossgrained.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Obliquely; transversely; athwart.
    • (Milton)

    References

    stifle

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hind knee of various mammals, especially horses.
  • (veterinary medicine) A bone disease of this region.

    • Verb

    (stifl)
  • To interrupt or cut off.
  • To repress, keep in or hold back.
  • * Waterland
    • I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled .
  • * , chapter=15
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 29, author=Neil Johnston, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Norwich 3-3 Blackburn , passage=In fact, there was no suggestion of that, although Wolves deployed men behind the ball to stifle the league leaders in a first-half that proved very frustrating for City.}}
  • To smother or suffocate.
  • * (John Dryden)
    • Stifled with kisses, a sweet death he dies.
  • * (Jonathan Swift)
    • I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room.
  • To feel smothered etc.
  • To die of suffocation.
  • To treat a silkworm cocoon with steam as part of the process of silk production.

    • Synonyms

    * (to die of suffocation) See also * (To repress or hold back) hinder, restrain, suppress, throttle

    Anagrams

    * English intransitive verbs English transitive verbs