suppress

American  

[suh-pres] / səˈprɛs /

verb (used with object)

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

   to suppress the Communist and certain left-leaning parties.

2. to do away with by or as by authority; abolish; stop (a practice, custom, etc.).

3. to keep in or repress (a feeling, smile, groan, etc.).

4. to withhold from disclosure or publication (truth, evidence, a book, names, etc.).

5. to stop or arrest (a flow, hemorrhage, cough, etc.).

6. to vanquish or subdue (a revolt, rebellion, etc.); quell; crush.

7. 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.

8. Electricity. to reduce or eliminate (an irregular or undesired oscillation or frequency) in a circuit.

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suppress British  

/ səˈprɛs /

verb

1. to put an end to; prohibit

2. to hold in check; restrain

   I was obliged to suppress a smile

3. to withhold from circulation or publication

   to suppress seditious pamphlets

4. to stop the activities of; crush

   to suppress a rebellion

5. electronics

   1. to reduce or eliminate (unwanted oscillations) in a circuit

   2. to eliminate (a particular frequency or group of frequencies) in a signal

6. 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

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Other Word Forms

• nonsuppressive
  adjective
• nonsuppressively
  adverb
• nonsuppressiveness
  noun
• presuppress
  verb (used with object)
• resuppress
  verb (used with object)
• self-suppressing
  adjective
• self-suppressive
  adjective
• suppresser
  noun
• suppressible
  adjective
• suppressive
  adjective
• suppressively
  adverb
• suppressor
  noun
• unsuppressible
  adjective
• unsuppressive
  adjective

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.

Example Sentences

The bipartisan Cassidy-Smith and Craig-Roe Suppress Covid-19 Acts, in the Senate and House respectively, also shared this framework.

From Washington Post • Oct. 28, 2020

Hastings’s review deserves a place in the now-classic book by Joanna Russ, How to Suppress Women’s Writing.

From The Guardian • Feb. 6, 2016

An off-world feminist utopia confronts its own destruction in "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ, whose "How to Suppress Women's Writing" was a touchstone for second-wave feminists.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 2015

Suppress your instinctive impatience, quiet the snarky voice in your head and allow yourself to recall, or perhaps to discover, the deep pleasures of sincerity.

From New York Times • Dec. 22, 2011

Suppress in her, O Lord, all eager desires of life, and lessen her fears of death, by inspiring into her an humble, yet assured, hope of Thy mercy.

From The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 03 Swift's Writings on Religion and the Church — Volume 1 by Swift, Jonathan

Related Words

• abolish
• censor
• conceal
• contain
• crack down on
• crush
• curb
• cut off
• muzzle
• overcome
• overthrow
• put an end to
• put down
• quash
• quell
• quench
• repress
• silence
• snuff out