suffer
to undergo or feel pain or distress: The patient is still suffering.
to sustain injury, disadvantage, or loss: One's health suffers from overwork. The business suffers from lack of capital.
to undergo a penalty, as of death: The traitor was made to suffer on the gallows.
to endure pain, disability, death, etc., patiently or willingly.
to undergo, be subjected to, or endure (pain, distress, injury, loss, or anything unpleasant): to suffer the pangs of conscience.
to undergo or experience (any action, process, or condition): to suffer change.
to tolerate or allow: I do not suffer fools gladly.
Origin of suffer
1Other words for suffer
Other words from suffer
- suf·fer·a·ble, adjective
- suf·fer·a·ble·ness, noun
- suf·fer·a·bly, adverb
- suf·fer·er, noun
- non·suf·fer·a·ble, adjective
- non·suf·fer·a·ble·ness, noun
- non·suf·fer·a·bly, adverb
- outsuffer, verb (used with object)
- pre·suf·fer, verb
- un·suf·fer·a·ble, adjective
- un·suf·fer·a·ble·ness, noun
- un·suf·fer·a·bly, adverb
Words Nearby suffer
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use suffer in a sentence
If we were to laugh, it would never be at the expense of anyone who was suffering.
I’ve suffered from lower-back problems for years, and I’m so tight that I scream out loud when I try to touch my toes.
5 Pieces of Gear That Help Me Stay Active During Winter | Jakob Schiller | February 11, 2021 | Outside OnlineLet’s say you’re suffering from deep depression, and you call a doctor’s office.
Can I Ask You a Ridiculously Personal Question? (Ep. 451) | Stephen J. Dubner | February 11, 2021 | FreakonomicsIf you’re someone whose extremities suffer in the cold, think about investing in hand warmers.
Best hand warmers: Block the chill during your favorite winter activities | PopSci Commerce Team | February 10, 2021 | Popular-ScienceWe have been suffering a lot, so we need people to work with us, with our language translated for us.
African Communities Warn Language Issues Could Shut Them Out of Redistricting | Maya Srikrishnan | February 10, 2021 | Voice of San Diego
I suffer from no delusion that the justice system treats black and white equally.
How does it happen that citizens of modest means suffer as public sector unions gain?
How Public Sector Unions Divide the Democrats | Daniel DiSalvo | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“One-third of South Asians and more than half of all Sub-Saharan Africans suffer from malnutrition or undernutrition,” he writes.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity | William O’Connor | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe birds are debeaked, suffer ulcers, and terrible feet conditions.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity | William O’Connor | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe was instructed several times to abuse the kids, he says, or he would suffer the abuse.
We suffer, nearly all of us, from a lack of quantitative grasp and from an imperfect grasp of form.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation | H. G. (Herbert George) WellsMy mother opposed her vow to his; not to suffer her child to leave her, till the time of her being professed.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane PorterThey will try to compel you to confession; and, though you are blameless, you will suffer the cruelest ordeal of transgression.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane PorterIs there any earthly father who would allow his children to suffer as God allows Man to suffer?
God and my Neighbour | Robert BlatchfordIn that case, Valerie, you shall suffer no constraint; you shall continue here as you have done.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
British Dictionary definitions for suffer
/ (ˈsʌfə) /
to undergo or be subjected to (pain, punishment, etc)
(tr) to undergo or experience (anything): to suffer a change of management
(intr) to be set at a disadvantage: this author suffers in translation
to be prepared to endure (pain, death, etc): he suffers for the cause of freedom
(tr) archaic to permit (someone to do something): suffer the little children to come unto me
suffer from
to be ill with, esp recurrently
to be given to: he suffers from a tendency to exaggerate
Origin of suffer
1usage For suffer
Derived forms of suffer
- sufferer, noun
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 Idioms and Phrases with suffer
see not suffer fools gladly.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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