DEFINITIONS
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repress

[ ri-pres ]
/ rɪˈprɛs /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR repress ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to keep under control, check, or suppress (desires, feelings, actions, tears, etc.).
to keep down or suppress (anything objectionable).
to put down or quell (sedition, disorder, etc.).
to reduce (persons) to subjection.
Psychoanalysis. to reject (painful or disagreeable ideas, memories, feelings, or impulses) from the conscious mind.

verb (used without object)

to initiate or undergo repression.

Words related to repress

inhibit, subdue, suppress, crush, quell, quash, restrain, muffle, squelch, subjugate, stifle, control, hinder, kill, compose, chasten, lock, smother, shush, cork

Words nearby repress

representation, representational, representationalism, representative, representatives, repress, repressed, represser, repressible enzyme, repression, repressive

Origin of repress

1325–75; Middle English repressen < Latin repressus (past participle of reprimere), equivalent to re- re- + pressus, past participle of primere to press1

OTHER WORDS FROM repress

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH repress

oppress repress

synonym study for repress

1. See check1.

Definition for repress (2 of 2)

re-press
[ ree-pres ]
/ ˈriˈprɛs /

verb (used with or without object)

to press again or anew.

Origin of re-press

First recorded in 1870–75; re- + press1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for repress

British Dictionary definitions for repress

repress
/ (rɪˈprɛs) /

verb (tr)

to keep (feelings, etc) under control; suppress or restrainto repress a desire
to put into a state of subjugationto repress a people
psychoanal to banish (thoughts and impulses that conflict with conventional standards of conduct) from one's conscious mind

Derived forms of repress

represser, nounrepressible, adjective

Word Origin for repress

C14: from Latin reprimere to press back, from re- + premere to press 1
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

Medical definitions for repress

repress
[ rĭ-prĕs′ ]

v.

To hold back by an act of volition.
To exclude something from the conscious mind.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.