See Also: repress(dictionary)
repress(dictionary)

repress (iou)



repress verb trans. ME.
[Latin repress- pa. ppl stem of reprimere repress: see RE-. Cf. PRESS verb1.]
a. Check, restrain, keep down (something bad or objectionable). ME.
M. L. King No society can..repress an ugly past.
b. Check by special treatment; cure, stanch. L15.
a. Hold back or withstand (passion, emotion, etc. in another) by opposition or control. LME.
N. Wanley Tiberius..repressed the..boldness of the proud Persian. H. T. Lane To repress the aggressiveness of a child will make him..anti-social.
b. Keep down, suppress, control (one's own desires, feelings, etc.). LME.
J. Conrad Renouard..repressed an impulse to jump up. M. Forster He repressed his grief for their sake.
c. Psychoanalysis. Actively (but unknowingly) exclude from the conscious mind or suppress into the unconscious (an unacceptable memory, impulse, or desire). E20.
W. McDougall The function of the 'ego-complex'..in..repressing the sexual tendencies.
Reduce (a person or persons) to subjection or quiet; put down by force; keep back or restrain from action. Also, quell (a riot etc.). LME.
H. T. Buckle A hopeless undertaking..to try to repress such powerful subjects.
Prevent from natural development, manifestation, etc. L15.
repressed ppl adjective (earlier in UNREPRESSED) (a) restrained, checked, suppressed; (b) spec. in Psychoanalysis (of a person) that suppresses in his or her unconscious unwelcome thoughts and impulses; (of an unwelcome impulse etc.) suppressed into a person's unconscious: M17.
represser noun = REPRESSOR LME.
repressible adjective (earlier in IRREPRESSIBLE) able to be repressed; Biochemistry susceptible to the action of a repressor: M20.