What does strangler mean?
A strangler is, first of all, a person who kills or attacks someone by squeezing the throat until breathing stops. The word is built from the verb strangle plus the agent suffix -er, and it appears most often in crime reporting, fiction and true-crime writing, where it carries a chilling, sinister tone. It is also used of certain plants, chiefly the strangler fig, a tropical tree that sprouts on a host tree, sends roots to the ground and gradually encloses the host until it dies. This botanical sense is more neutral, and it describes a real ecological strategy rather than a crime. Figuratively, a strangler can be anything that chokes, restricts or stifles growth, such as a policy that throttles a small business. Because the literal meaning is violent, the word is rarely light in tone, and it works well when a writer wants a vivid image of slow, tightening constriction. The plural is stranglers, and the related verb is strangle.
nounA person who kills or attacks another by compressing the throat so that breathing is cut off. By extension, a plant or thing that chokes or constricts something else.
- A person who kills or attacks others by strangling them.
- Short for strangler fig: a tropical fig that grows around a host tree and eventually kills it.
- Figuratively, a force or thing that constricts, stifles or chokes off something else.
"The detective spent months chasing a strangler who left no trace beyond a silk cord at each scene."
"Newspapers of the 1960s gave the unidentified killer the name of the Boston Strangler."
"The ancient temple wall was wrapped in the pale roots of a strangler that had outlived the masonry it climbed."
Regular plural formed by adding -s; used for people, and for plants of the strangler-fig type.
"Stranglers in the rainforest canopy can take decades to enclose their host trees."
The strangler fig begins life as a seed dropped high in a host tree, then sends roots down around the trunk until it has slowly choked its host.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does strangler come from?
Strangler is formed in English from the verb strangle and the agent suffix -er. Strangle came into Middle English from Old French estrangler, which comes from Latin strangulare, itself borrowed from Greek strangalizein, 'to choke', related to strangalē, 'a halter or cord'. The same Latin root gives English strangulate and strangulation.
Related word forms
How strangler is actually used
In its main sense the word is blunt and grim, and it appears mostly in crime reporting, fiction and true-crime writing. In botany it is a neutral technical shorthand and is usually written 'strangler fig'. Figurative uses are literary and usually disapproving.
Easily confused with strangler
A stranger is someone you do not know, while a strangler is someone who strangles.