repressed
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonrepressed adjective
- unrepressed adjective
Etymology
Origin of repressed
Explanation
If something is repressed, it's restrained or held in. You may be full of repressed anger toward your brother over that terrifying incident from four years ago involving the frog and your hooded sweatshirt... The adjective repressed often describes emotions, desires, or memories, especially those that are embarrassing, shameful, or scary. When an emotion is repressed, it's held inside so that you don’t have to show how you feel — or even admit to yourself how you feel. In fact, repressed emotions are those feelings that you unconsciously avoid. For example, you might not realize that you have a repressed longing for that last piece of birthday cake in the pantry. A person who has many pent-up feelings is generally said to be repressed.
Vocabulary lists containing repressed
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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President Obama's Speech at the United Nations
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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
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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.
But seeing the show, in which two athletes enter a loving relationship, stirred repressed feelings.
From BBC • Jan. 31, 2026
The effect of the metanarrative is to juxtapose Byron’s violent passions with the careful, repressed behavior of one who hoped to capture him in literature.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025
But Abbot Joseph Mpundu, a standard bearer for the repressed 1992 protests against Mobutu's rule, takes a dim view of any rehabilitation of the ex-dictator's image.
From Barron's • Nov. 13, 2025
It’s a snap of anger, repressed and now rising to the surface.
From Slate • Oct. 22, 2025
But surrounding it was the stillness of nearmidnight in a country town, so that the hurrying feet and the repressed voices had a hollow reverberance.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
