repress
verb (used with object)
to keep under control, check, or suppress (desires, feelings, actions, tears, etc.).
were repressing
-
past progressiveof repress.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Around the time of the riddle lottery, Aureliano Segundo began waking up with a knot in his throat, as if he were repressing a desire to weep.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Her hand was pressed against her breast, as if she were repressing an inward voice which claimed her attention.
From The Morgesons by Elizabeth Stoddard
I have never been with you without being conscious that you were repressing something, out of—well, courtesy, I suppose.
From Poor Man's Rock by Frank Tenney Johnson
He bit his lip as if he were indignant, and were repressing an exclamation.
From The Heart of Rome by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
Will's glance had caught Dorothea's as she turned out of the pew, and again she bowed, but this time with a look of agitation, as if she were repressing tears.
From Middlemarch by George Eliot
