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 Word Forms

• nonrepression 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

“It was a different time period, but it feels very similar to the kind of repression that’s going on now.”

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But Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK's head of campaigns, said "goals and glory are distracting from executions and repression" after a record 345 people were executed in Saudi Arabia last year.

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But in imposing curfews and dismissing UN casualty reports, the government could be signalling that it may double down on repression rather than compromise.

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In a separate post, Conaie denied that they were terrorists or criminals and said "the true terror is imposed by the government with its repression."

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Leave it to America, the land of free enterprise if not free speech, to devise a hybrid totalitarianism that outsources the actual implementation of repression to nongovernmental entities.

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Related Words

• oppression 
• suppression