repression

[ ri-presh-uhn ]

noun

1. the act of repressing; state of being repressed.
2. Psychology, Psychoanalysis. the rejection from consciousness of painful or disagreeable ideas, memories, feelings, or impulses:

   Freud's approach to interpreting early memories emphasizes what is forgotten through the mechanism of repression.

Other Words From

• non·re·pres·sion noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of repression¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English repressioun, from Medieval Latin repressiōn- (stem of repressiō ), Late Latin: “suppression”; repress, -ion

Example Sentences

Researchers say the movement began coalescing online in 2019 as people — mostly young men — angry with what they perceived to be increasing government repression, found each other on Facebook groups and in private chats.

From ProPublica

American parents are not going to accept indoctrination in our schools, cancel culture at work, or the repression of traditional faith, culture and values in the public square.

From Washington Post

Autocratic regimes are far more likely to use these instruments for repression, but democracies sometimes use them to curb civil rights too.

From MIT Technology Review

He has relied on a mixture of repression and elite loyalty, but also, to an extent, popular support.

From No Straight News

Now, the fear is palpable—citizens are comparing the air of repression to the cultural revolution, and professors are being fired from universities for advocating democracy.

From Quartz

Hand to God Sexual repression has been around for centuries, courtesy of all our favorite religions.

From The Daily Beast

Depressing is really what Cuba has become—repression, bureaucracy, and crippling poverty.

From The Daily Beast

One road leads to freedom, sharing, and equality; the other to endless spying, a hierarchical structure, and repression.

From The Daily Beast

Dovlatov hated Soviet oppression and battled repression subtly, by not condescending to notice it, and keeping things light.

From The Daily Beast

If the U.S. does nothing, the Arab world will continue its slide into sectarian bigotry, political repression, and madness.

From The Daily Beast

Not that those stolid agriculturists required much repression.

From Project Gutenberg

Cavour's double play and the cruel repression of the Genoese plot left him bitterer than ever against the monarchy and its men.

From Project Gutenberg

As we follow the sessions of the Assembly we find acts for the repression of litigation renewed three times in five years.

From Project Gutenberg

But the war brought worse than an arrest of progress; it brought repression of freedom and a tremendous load of debt.

From Project Gutenberg

Calavius was furious and paused, as if to give orders for harsher repression.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• oppression
• suppression