Repressibility

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The characteristic of being capable of control or suppression is described by this term
2. This term refers to the ability of something to be subdued or held back in terms of action or expression
3. The quality of something that allows it to be held back or controlled

Etymology: "Repressibility" is a straightforward formation: it joins "repress," a verb borrowed from Latin "reprimere," meaning "to press back" or "to hold down," with the suffix "-ibility," which turns adjectives ending in "-ible" into nouns of quality. So a thing that can be repressed has repressibility, the state of being capable of being held in check. The base verb "repress" is itself older than this noun and carries the physical sense of pressing something back, which the abstract meaning of suppression grew out of. The "-ible" adjective it relies on comes from Latin "-ibilis," and the noun ending "-ibility" follows the same pattern as words like "possibility" and "credibility."