repress

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English repressen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin repressus, the past participle of reprimō (“to hold back, check”),^[5][6][7] from re- (“back”) and premō (“to press”),^[6][4][5] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace to Proto-Indo-European *per-.^[5][4] The Middle English Dictionary also names Old French represser as a source,^[3] and Skeat saw the French prefix and verb used with the Latin sense;^[8] the OED, however, compares an Anglo-Norman represser that it dates only to the second half of the 15th century.^[6] The word belongs with the English verbs press, compress, depress, impress, oppress and suppress.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To check or keep in check something undesirable, especially sin: about 1385, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.^[2][6] Gower, in 1391, has it for putting down enemies: "God schal hise foomen so represse That thei schul ay stonde under foote".^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was applied both to outward force and to inner self-control: enemies and rebels on one hand, and sins and one's own feelings on the other, as Gower's use from before 1393 shows.^[6][5] Medieval medicine used it for counteracting a disease or venom, for stopping a flow, and even for diluting a substance.^[3][6] Johnson (1755) gives "to crush; to put down; to subdue" first.^[10] The modern psychological sense translates German verdrängen, used this way by Breuer and Freud in 1893;^[6][5] it appears in English by 1904, implied in repressed, according to Etymonline, and in 1906 in the OED.^[5][6] In 1965 the word was applied to preventing the expression of a gene.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – to keep something undesirable in check.^[6][2]
• c. 1391 – to put down an enemy or lawbreaker by force.^[6][3]
• before 1393 – to restrain one's own desires or feelings.^[6]
• c. 1425 – to counteract with a treatment, to stanch (obsolete by 1826).^[6]
• 1445 – to quell a rebellion or riot.^[6]
• before 1500 – noun, repression (obsolete by 1677).^[6]
• 1532 – to stamp out a practice or idea seen as a threat to authority.^[6]
• c. 1567 – to prevent natural growth or development.^[6]
• 1906 – to exclude an unacceptable memory or impulse from the conscious mind.^[6] Etymonline finds this sense by 1904.^[5]
• 1965 – to prevent the expression of a gene.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To keep feelings or impulses under control; to suppress or restrain: She repressed a laugh during the sermon.^[11][6][7]
2. To put down by force; to subjugate: The junta repressed the strikers.^[11][6]
3. (psychoanalysis) To exclude thoughts, memories or impulses from the conscious mind.^[11][6][12]
4. To check or prevent the growth or spread of something: The new law repressed the trade.^[7][6]
5. (biochemistry, genetics) To prevent or reduce the expression of a gene.^[6]
6. To check with a treatment or remedy; to stanch (obsolete, 1425–1826).^[6][12]

Noun

1. Repression (obsolete, 1500–1677).^[6][10]

Word family

• repressibility
• repressible
• repressive
• repressively
• repressiveness
• derepress

Related words

• repression
• repressor
• press
• reprimand
• oppress
• suppress
• depress
• compress
• express
• impress

Usage notes

A separate verb repress, or re-press, formed from re- and press, means to press again, especially in manufacturing; the OED records it from 1818.^[6] Merriam-Webster also has a noun for a machine that re-presses brick.^[7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press