Definition

1. Verb:
   • To subdue or suppress by force: To put down or control something, especially a rebellion, protest, or undesirable activity, using authority or power.
   • To keep under control or restraint: To consciously hold back or prevent an emotion, impulse, memory, or action from being expressed or becoming conscious.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • The regime moved quickly to repress the student protests. (The government used force to stop the demonstrations.)
  • She tried to repress her feelings of jealousy. (She attempted to consciously keep her jealousy from showing.)
  • He repressed the traumatic memory for many years. (He kept the distressing memory out of his conscious mind.)

Advanced Usage

• In psychology: Refers to the unconscious defense mechanism of excluding distressing thoughts, feelings, or memories from conscious awareness.
  • The theory suggests that we may repress painful childhood experiences.
• "To repress a smile/laugh/yawn": To consciously stop oneself from smiling, laughing, or yawning.
  • He had to repress a laugh during the serious meeting.

Variants and Related Words

• Repression (n): The act of repressing or the state of being repressed.
  • The political repression led to widespread fear.
• Repressive (adj): Serving to repress, restrictive, harsh.
  • The country was under a repressive regime.
• Repressed (adj): Subjected to repression; (of a person or emotion) characterized by the inhibition of emotional or instinctual impulses.
  • He was a very repressed individual who rarely showed emotion.

Synonyms

• Suppress: To forcibly put an end to or restrain.
• Quell: To put an end to (a rebellion or other disorder), typically by the use of force.
• Subdue: To overcome, quieten, or bring under control.
• Restrain: To prevent (someone or something) from doing something; to keep under control.

Antonyms

• Express: To convey (a thought or feeling) in words or by gestures and conduct.
• Release: To allow or enable to escape from confinement; to set free.
• Encourage: To give support, confidence, or hope to someone; to stimulate the development of an activity.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• "To repress one's emotions/feelings": To consciously hold back one's emotions.
  • It's not healthy to constantly repress your feelings.
• "A repressed society/memory": A society controlled by severe force, or a memory kept out of conscious thought.
  • She grew up in a culturally repressed society.

Verb

1. block the action of
2. put out of one's consciousness
3. conceal or hide
   • smother a yawn
   • muffle one's anger
   • strangle a yawn
4. put down by force or intimidation
   • The government quashes any attempt of an uprising
   • China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently
   • The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land