repress
verb /rɪˈpres/
/rɪˈpres/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they repress | /rɪˈpres/ /rɪˈpres/ |
| he / she / it represses | /rɪˈpresɪz/ /rɪˈpresɪz/ |
| past simple repressed | /rɪˈprest/ /rɪˈprest/ |
| past participle repressed | /rɪˈprest/ /rɪˈprest/ |
| -ing form repressing | /rɪˈpresɪŋ/ /rɪˈpresɪŋ/ |
- repress something to try not to have or show an emotion, a feeling, etc. synonym control
- to repress a smile
- He burst in, making no effort to repress his fury.
- For years he had successfully repressed the painful memories of childhood.
Extra Examples- feelings that had been firmly repressed
- They tend to hide their emotions and repress their desires.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- barely
- brutally
- harshly
- …
- try to
- be unable to
- [often passive] repress somebody/something to use political and/or military force to control a group of people and limit their freedom synonym put down, suppress
- The government was quick to repress any opposition.
Extra Examples- The organized opposition has been brutally repressed.
- a country that systematically represses human rights
- Unrest in Algeria was quickly repressed in May 1945.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- barely
- brutally
- harshly
- …
- try to
- be unable to
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘keep back something objectionable’): from Latin repress- ‘pressed back, checked’, from the verb reprimere, from re- ‘back’ + premere ‘to press’.