The phrase "almost stifle" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a situation where someone is on the verge of suppressing or restraining something, such as an emotion or reaction, but does not fully do so.
Example: "She had to almost stifle a laugh when she saw the unexpected surprise."
Alternatives: "nearly suppress" or "almost restrain".
It does so even now, at a time of almost stifling specialization.
The truth is that I almost stifled the nascent project's development, because I couldn't see the need it would fill.
King piles on the symbolism, mystery and magic so thick that they're almost stifling, like too many blankets on a hot summer night.
Goals from Alli and Ben Davies consequently enabled a visiting team who had hitherto struggled to undo Newcastle's defensive organisation to rediscover the benefits of what some fear has become an almost stifling familiarity.
And now she's at the pony's tail, And now is at the pony's head, On that side now, and now on this; And almost stifled with her bliss, A few sad tears does Betty shed.
The effect, combined with a glimpse of red socks (surprisingly informal) and a watch chain stretched across his waistcoat (surprisingly formal), and the almost stifling nervousness I felt at being in his presence, rendered me pretty well speechless.
"I used to be such a control freak," she said, referring to the black-and-white short films "Fugitive Love" (1991) and "Family Remains" (1993) that won her early acclaim and that she called "stylized, almost stifled, very controlled things".
Tchaikovsky had also to confront an ominous personal drama that almost stifled the opera at birth.As the composer laboured to make music out of Pushkin's tragic tale the rejection of an epistolary declaration of love which is later regretted he received an unexpected love letter of his own from one of his students at the music conservatory.
Unfortunately, a big government subsidy is almost certain to stifle the rough and tumble process of product development, testing, failure and reformulation.
The Sea by John Banville (Picador, £7.99) It won last year's Booker prize, so does not exactly need the oxygen of publicity: but this almost airless, deliberately stifled book is one of the more interesting titles that the prize has been conferred upon recently.
