suppressed

American  

[suh-prest] / səˈprɛst /

adjective

1. stopped or kept from carrying on normal activity.

   In the late 1700s, all members of the suppressed Jesuit Order flocked to Rome from other European countries where they were not tolerated.

2. kept in or repressed, as a laugh, feeling, thought, etc..

   I heard a suppressed giggle from under the bed.

3. withheld from disclosure or publication.

   There is a reasonable probability that the suppressed evidence would have produced a different verdict.

4. stopped or arrested, as a cough, bodily process, etc..

   Their study examines how viral therapy combined with a suppressed immune response could be more effective against solid tumors.

5. vanquished or subdued; quelled.

   Six casino workers were killed in a brutally suppressed strike.

6. done away with or abolished, by or as by authority.

   Generations later, descendants of the colonists have generally accepted the formerly suppressed practice of tattooing.

7. kept from being expressed genetically.

   The promise of reversing sickle cell disease symptoms by reactivating a suppressed gene has attracted considerable interest.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of suppress.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• well-suppressed
  adjective
• suppressedly
  adverb
• nonsuppressed
  adjective
• unsuppressed
  adjective
• quasi-suppressed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of suppressed

suppress ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

If something is suppressed, it has been kept secret or forcibly restricted. You may hear rumors about a suppressed report on a politician's activities — it's kept secret, so you don't know the facts. It doesn't always take an outside force to make something suppressed — you can do it yourself. You might occasionally have a suppressed feeling of rage. (Psychiatrists, who are in the business of bringing such feelings to light, might frown on this.) Sometimes something that's suppressed is also oppressed — that is, harshly put down or brutally controlled, like a suppressed minority group. Both suppressed and oppressed come from the same Latin word, opprimere, meaning "to press against, or crush."

Example Sentences

In middle aged mice, the cancer released molecules that suppressed or exhausted γδ T cells.

From Science Daily • May 31, 2026

It’s possible, Whelton said, that spraying copious amounts of water on the tank had effectively suppressed much of the toxic vapors and the airborne risk.

From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026

Judge Gregory Carro ruled on Monday that certain evidence "must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip" found with Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald's.

From BBC • May 18, 2026

The committee’s report stated Zambia’s government ignored warnings and suppressed a probe into Sino-Metals’ tailings dam collapse.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

He edged among them, looking around, and suppressed a laugh as he imagined the look that would spread over Dudley’s piggy face if he could see where Harry was now.

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling

Related Words

• barred
• blocked
• closed
• confined
• controlled
• defined
• deprived
• prescribed
• reduced
• restrained
• secured
• shortened
• tethered