suppressed

American  

[suh-prest] / səˈprɛst /

adjective

1. stopped or kept from carrying on normal activity.

   In the late 1700s, all members of the suppressed Jesuit Order flocked to Rome from other European countries where they were not tolerated.

2. kept in or repressed, as a laugh, feeling, thought, etc..

   I heard a suppressed giggle from under the bed.

3. withheld from disclosure or publication.

   There is a reasonable probability that the suppressed evidence would have produced a different verdict.

4. stopped or arrested, as a cough, bodily process, etc..

   Their study examines how viral therapy combined with a suppressed immune response could be more effective against solid tumors.

5. vanquished or subdued; quelled.

   Six casino workers were killed in a brutally suppressed strike.

6. done away with or abolished, by or as by authority.

   Generations later, descendants of the colonists have generally accepted the formerly suppressed practice of tattooing.

7. kept from being expressed genetically.

   The promise of reversing sickle cell disease symptoms by reactivating a suppressed gene has attracted considerable interest.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of suppress.

Other Word Forms

• nonsuppressed
  adjective
• quasi-suppressed
  adjective
• suppressedly
  adverb
• unsuppressed
  adjective
• well-suppressed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of suppressed

suppress ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

If something is suppressed, it has been kept secret or forcibly restricted. You may hear rumors about a suppressed report on a politician's activities — it's kept secret, so you don't know the facts. It doesn't always take an outside force to make something suppressed — you can do it yourself. You might occasionally have a suppressed feeling of rage. (Psychiatrists, who are in the business of bringing such feelings to light, might frown on this.) Sometimes something that's suppressed is also oppressed — that is, harshly put down or brutally controlled, like a suppressed minority group. Both suppressed and oppressed come from the same Latin word, opprimere, meaning "to press against, or crush."

Example Sentences

The first printing, advertised as “The Suppressed Book,” sold out on the first day.

From Washington Post • Apr. 30, 2022

Suppressed before the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy, Ennahda has since then been the most consistently powerful political party, backing successive coalition governments and helping to agree the 2014 constitution.

From Reuters • Aug. 1, 2021

Suppressed gunfire is still louder than a chainsaw.

From The Verge • Aug. 26, 2019

Suppressed Desires Early 20th-century satire of Freudian dream theory; part of Pasadena ArtNight.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 13, 2016

Suppressed laughter from the pews, a few old ladies gasping in horror, then silence.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Related Words

• barred
• blocked
• closed
• confined
• controlled
• defined
• deprived
• prescribed
• reduced
• restrained
• secured
• shortened
• tethered