drop dead vs asphyxiate

drop dead and asphyxiate both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
drop dead	No	No	Yes	No
asphyxiate	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, asphyxiate is a hyponym of drop dead; that is, asphyxiate is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than drop dead:

drop dead: pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
asphyxiate: be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen

Other hyponyms of drop dead include abort, stifle, suffocate, buy it, pip out, drown, predecease, famish, starve, fall, succumb, yield.

drop dead (verb)	asphyxiate (verb)
pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life	be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen
	deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
	impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of