suppression

American  

[suh-presh-uhn] / səˈprɛʃ ən /

noun

• suppressions
  plural

1. the act of suppressing.

2. the state of being suppressed.

3. Psychoanalysis. conscious inhibition of an impulse.

4. Botany. the absence of parts normally or usually present due to the action of frost, disease, or insects.

5. Radio, Electronics. the elimination of a component of a varying emission, as the elimination of a frequency or group of frequencies from a signal.

6. Electricity. the reduction or elimination of irregular current oscillations or frequencies in a circuit.

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suppression British  

/ səˈprɛʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of suppressing or the condition of being suppressed

2. psychoanal the conscious avoidance of unpleasant thoughts Compare repression

3. electronics the act or process of suppressing a frequency, oscillation, etc

4. biology the failure of an organ or part to develop

5. med the cessation of any physiological process

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonsuppression
  noun
• resuppression
  noun
• self-suppression
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• suppressions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of suppression

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin suppressiōn-, stem of suppressiō “a pressing under”; equivalent to suppress + -ion

Explanation

Suppression is the act of keeping something from happening — like the suppression of your laughter when your best friend passes you a funny note in class. In psychology, suppression is the act of stopping yourself from thinking or feeling something. It is generally presumed to be ineffective because even if you suppress or hold back an emotion, like anger, that feeling returns with a vengeance. Suppression can also mean the act of holding something else back, like the suppression of a book from publication because you don't like its message.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

suppression suppressions

In the windowless room, climate controls ensure the humidity remains constant, while a suppression system stands ready to snuff out fires.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

Ramdin called member states of the OAS -- an organization that promotes cooperation in the Americas -- and other partners that have pledged support for an international gang suppression force to fulfill their commitments.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Though not immediately visible to the naked eye, the ranch features a number of infrastructural updates, including automated irrigation and a fire suppression system that runs off an 18,000-gallon tank buried underground.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

Ten years later, a district court judge ruled that he was factually innocent and threw out his conviction, citing the suppression of exonerating evidence by police, among other factors.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

Being a suppression, not merely a repression, it produced not frustration, but something more ominous, perhaps, in the long rim: passivity.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

These suppressions do not occur in a vacuum.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 27, 2018

The Forest Service and the Department of Interior can transfer money from other programs once their fire suppressions accounts have been depleted.

From US News ● May 5, 2015

They’re not in the interest of the story; they are suppressions of the story, ones that the filmmakers seemed to think they could get away with.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 5, 2014

And there were a remarkable range of those as well: dark pageboy, brown mullet, reddish bob — all heroic suppressions, in the cause of art, of her natural blondness.

From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 2010

He seems to carry the weight of those suppressions on his conscience.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Related Words

• elimination
• overthrow