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Synonyms

suppress

American

[suh-pres] / səˈprɛs /

verb (used with object)

to put an end to the activities of (a person, body of persons, etc.).

to suppress the Communist and certain left-leaning parties.
to do away with by or as by authority; abolish; stop (a practice, custom, etc.).
to keep in or repress (a feeling, smile, groan, etc.).
to withhold from disclosure or publication (truth, evidence, a book, names, etc.).
to stop or arrest (a flow, hemorrhage, cough, etc.).
to vanquish or subdue (a revolt, rebellion, etc.); quell; crush.
Genetics. to keep (a gene) from being expressed.

Let's say that future genetic engineers discover a gene for suicidal depression, and learn how to suppress the gene or adjust it.
Electricity. to reduce or eliminate (an irregular or undesired oscillation or frequency) in a circuit.

suppress British

/ səˈprɛs /

verb

to put an end to; prohibit
to hold in check; restrain

I was obliged to suppress a smile
to withhold from circulation or publication

to suppress seditious pamphlets
to stop the activities of; crush

to suppress a rebellion
electronics
1. to reduce or eliminate (unwanted oscillations) in a circuit
2. to eliminate (a particular frequency or group of frequencies) in a signal
psychiatry
1. to resist consciously (an idea or a desire entering one's mind)
2. to exercise self-control by preventing the expression of (certain desires) Compare repress

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of suppress

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English suppressen, from Latin suppressus (past participle of supprimere “to press down”), equivalent to sup- sup- + pressus ( see press ¹)

Explanation

To suppress something means to curb, inhibit, or even stop it. If the sound of your boss moving in his chair sounds like gas, you’re going to have to learn how to suppress your giggles. In the strictest sense, suppress means to put an end to something by force, like a government that suppresses the right to free speech by shutting down the newspapers or the military suppressing an uprising by rebel forces. But we also use suppress in less serious terms to describe an attempt to muffle or stifle something, such as suppressing a sneeze in a quiet theater or suppressing your true emotions to not cause a teary scene.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

suppress suppresses suppressed suppressing

People do not become Olympic gold medalists because they suppress impulses all day long.

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2026

These GLP-1 injections suppress people's appetites, causing them to feel fuller sooner - but are not suitable for everyone and can have side effects.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

When an acetyl tag is added to BCL6, the protein loses its ability to suppress the cell-death genes downstream from it.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

After years of war, the mind learns to suppress reactions to danger, she says—a way of protecting the fragments of ordinary life that remain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

I suppress a little shiver at the thought.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Warming suppresses upwelling — which normally allows colder, deeper and nutrient-rich ocean water to rise closer to the surface.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

Heat domes are large areas of high pressure, where sinking air suppresses development of precipitation and clouds, allowing heat to build up over days and weeks.

From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026

Rather than acting independently, the particles appear to coordinate their behavior in a way that suppresses current fluctuations.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026

Borrowers who are highly qualified are often more likely to overpay because their lack of approval anxiety suppresses the motivation to comparison shop, according to the research.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

The cowboy next to him suppresses a smile.

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

What stands out is that implied correlations have been suppressed since January 2023, around the same time SPY began to outperform RSP.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 18, 2026

Inspired by the museum’s Soviet Hippie collection, an archive that documents the suppressed Soviet subculture of the 1960s through photos, clothing and memorabilia, the workshops use historical events as foundations for creative prompts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

"Every time I looked at him on the page, I discovered something more. He's not somebody that broadcasts his feelings. He's suppressed them for such a long time."

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Former employees alleged that 21 Air previously ignored protocol and suppressed safety reports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Julie asked, and Alex could hear the suppressed panic in her voice.

From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer

We all know what it feels like, even children recognize the feeling of effort, the effort of suppressing impulses.

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2026

Lai’s office condemned acts carried out “with the aim of suppressing, threatening, or even harming advocates of freedom and democracy and their families,” Kuo said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

For the X-59 it's about suppressing sonic booms on a budget and nothing else.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

"By identifying this specific protective pathway, we may be able to develop more targeted therapeutic approaches that restore intestinal balance instead of broadly suppressing immune responses."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

But there was a difference between suppressing the publication of research findings and restricting the personal give-and-take among scientists that was indispensable for scientific progress.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023