Repress

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹəˈpɹɛs/

Definitions

1. To hold back, restrain, or prevent the expression or development of feelings, thoughts, or actions
2. To forcibly suppress or inhibit the emergence of emotions, desires, or impulses from conscious awareness
3. To exercise control by restraining the outward manifestation or natural expression of inner feelings or thoughts

Etymology: The verb "repress" is a compound: the prefix re- ("back" or "again") attached to "press." The Latin source, "reprimō," meant "to press back" or "to keep down," and the English word inherits that pressing-down sense in a figurative direction. Its English form came through Old French, where the prefix and stem were already combined before being carried into Middle English. The sense "hold back feelings" grows naturally from the physical image. To repress an emotion is to push it down, as one might press a lid onto something that wants to rise. The word was never a choice between two meanings. The physical pressing and the mental restraining were the same act described in two registers, which is why the modern psychological use of "repress" sits so easily beside the older sense of suppressing a rebellion or a crowd.

Synonyms: suppress, stifle, restrain, quell, control

Antonyms: release, liberate, free