From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe suffocatingbe suffocatingBREATHE#to feel uncomfortable because there is not enough fresh air Can you open a window? I’m suffocating. → suffocate
Examples from the Corpus
be suffocating• Can you open a window? I'm suffocating.• At the main stage the crowd of women was so dense it was suffocating.• He stepped into the tub, the hot water making him feel like he was suffocating.• July turned to August, and the heat was suffocating.• The little girl is suffocating, her throat is already blocked up.• I couldn't keep my eyes open, I felt as if I was suffocating in a warm fug of words.• Politicians and media types were suffocating in recycled hot air.• Cars were suffocating the roads like weeds.• It was suffocating to sit between those merit was like being a fox in a bog while hounds crooned on either bank. 