Etymologically
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suppress

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Pronunciation

  • /səˈpɹɛs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English suppressen,[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin suppressus (“pressed down”), the past participle of supprimō (“to press down, hold back, check, stifle”),[5][6][7][8] formed from sub- (“under”), assimilated before p, and premō (“to press”),[8][5][7] the source of press.[9][10] Etymonline derives the Latin verb from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to strike”).[5] The OED and the Middle English Dictionary also compare Middle French suppresser, recorded in isolated examples from about 1380.[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To reduce a person or group to powerlessness, keep in subjection: about 1400, in Wyclif's English works.[7][8] Etymonline gives the late 14th-century senses "be burdensome" and "quell, cause to cease", first implied in the verbal noun suppressing.[5]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense of the Latin verb, to press down, appears in English only from 1542 to 1598, in medical writing,[7] while the early English senses were already figurative: to keep down by force or authority, then from about 1450 to overcome or vanquish.[7][2] From the 15th century the verb was turned inward, to banishing a feeling or thought from one's mind (Lydgate, before 1500), and Barnhart dates the sense of subduing a feeling or habit to 1526.[7][8] The censor's sense came in 1533: J. Frith wrote of withholding a book from publication, and Thomas More of keeping something secret.[7][8] By about 1538 the verb meant to put an end to a practice, and so to put down a rebellion.[7] Etymonline dates the medical sense, to check a flow or discharge, to the 1620s.[5] Johnson (1755) defined it first as "to crush; to overpower; to overwhelm; to subdue".[11] Later technical uses include architecture, for leaving out an expected feature (1826, after Italian),[7] and electronics, for removing unwanted oscillations or frequencies from a circuit.[12] In psychology it came to mean consciously pushing an idea or desire out of one's mind.[12][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – to keep a person or group in subjection.[7][8]
  • c. 1450 – to overcome by force, subdue.[7][2]
  • before 1500 – to banish a feeling or thought from the mind.[7]
  • 1526 – to subdue a feeling or habit.[8]
  • 1533 – to withhold a book from publication; to keep secret.[7][8]
  • before 1538 – to put an end to a practice; to put down a rebellion.[7]
  • 1542 – to press down physically (obsolete by 1598).[7]
  • 1557 – to keep a feeling or exclamation from being expressed.[7]
  • 1620s – in medicine, to check a flow or discharge.[5]
  • 1697 – to leave out, omit.[7]
  • 1826 – in architecture, to leave a feature out of a design.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put down by force or authority; to crush: The army suppressed the revolt within a week.[12][6][7]
  2. To put an end to; to prohibit an activity or practice.[12][7]
  3. To hold back the expression of a feeling or reaction; to stifle: He could barely suppress a laugh.[12][7]
  4. To keep a book, newspaper or other publication from circulation.[12][6][7]
  5. To keep secret; to refrain from disclosing evidence or information.[6][7]
  6. In psychiatry, to push an unwanted idea or desire out of one's conscious mind.[12][7]
  7. In electronics, to reduce or remove unwanted oscillations or frequencies in a circuit or signal.[12]

Word family

  • suppressant
  • suppressible
  • suppressibility
  • suppressive
  • suppressiveness
  • suppressively
  • suppressor
  • immunosuppress

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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)
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins