Repress
verb
To control or keep something under control.
The government repressed the revolt quickly and brutally.
Often appears as...
- repress a smile
- repress a laugh
verb
To not allow yourself to express a feeling, thought, etc.
He repressed his anger and carried on working.
Often appears as...
- repress a feeling
- repress an emotion
verb
To forget something painful or embarrassing that happened in the past.
He had repressed the traumatic memory of his mother's death.
Often appears as...
- repress a memory
- repress a traumatic experience
Usage tips
Disapproving
Academic
verb
To control or keep something under control.
The government repressed the revolt quickly and brutally.
Often appears as...
- repress a smile
- repress a laugh
verb
To not allow yourself to express a feeling, thought, etc.
He repressed his anger and carried on working.
Often appears as...
- repress a feeling
- repress an emotion
verb
To forget something painful or embarrassing that happened in the past.
He had repressed the traumatic memory of his mother's death.
Often appears as...
- repress a memory
- repress a traumatic experience
Usage tips
Disapproving
Academic
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Power Dynamics
Used when someone with authority stops something forcefully.
The activists claimed the new policy was a way to repress dissent.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Often suggests unfair or harsh control.
Citizens felt repressed by the heavy-handed laws.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Physically
Implies control of abstract things, not physical objects.
The company repressed the information from becoming public.
Pro Tip 1/3Power Dynamics
Used when someone with authority stops something forcefully.
The activists claimed the new policy was a way to repress dissent.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Often suggests unfair or harsh control.
Citizens felt repressed by the heavy-handed laws.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Physically
Implies control of abstract things, not physical objects.
The company repressed the information from becoming public.
Pro Tip 1/3Power Dynamics
Used when someone with authority stops something forcefully.
The activists claimed the new policy was a way to repress dissent.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Often suggests unfair or harsh control.
Citizens felt repressed by the heavy-handed laws.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Physically
Implies control of abstract things, not physical objects.
The company repressed the information from becoming public.
Never forget "Repress"
Humans forget easily. That's why you should download WordUp: Smart reminders, word games, AI practice, and much more!
Video examples
How to be "Team Human"...
it repressed what makes us most human. We ended up with social media. Does social media really connect people in new, interesting ways? No, social media is about using our data to predict our future behavior. Or when necessary, to influence our future behavior so that we act more in accordance with our statistical profiles.
Video examples
History vs. Sigmund...
He proposed that people are motivated by unconscious desires and repressed memories, and their problems can be addressed by making those motivations conscious through talk therapy. His influence towers above that of all other psychologists in the public eye.
Video examples
Sakinah Hofler: How...
they've asked me for money, and I've walked around them, and I did not acknowledge their humanity. And the list could go on and on, but you want to think of times when something might have happened sexually, times when you've been keeping things repressed,
Video examples
Emily Nagoski and Amelia...
and rage and repressed rage -- we've all got it. So our layperson's definition of burnout is, as you said, that feeling of being overwhelmed and exhausted by everything you have to do, while still worrying that you're not doing enough. Mm hmm.
Video examples
Humanity's Search for...
for the very first time, furnishing the yardstick of the universe. Meanwhile, a dutiful teenage boy in the Midwest was repressing his childhood love of astronomy and beginning his legal studies to fulfill his dying father's demand
Video examples
C.K. Williams: Poetry...
Me shyly, obliquely, trying not to be furtive. She boldly, unblinkingly, even pugnaciously, wrathfully even, when her bottle was empty. I was frightened of her. I felt like a child. I was afraid some repressed part of myself
Video examples
Neil MacGregor: 2600...
He'll let them return to their countries. And more important, he will let them all recover the gods, the statues, the temple vessels that had been confiscated. All the peoples that the Babylonians had repressed and removed
Video examples
How reliable is your...
it created some pretty bad problems for hostilities, primarily from the repressed memory therapists, who felt under attack, and by the patients whom they had influenced. I had sometimes armed guards at speeches
Video examples
Where does creativity...
So, when I look at creativity, I also think that it is this sense or this inability to repress, my looking at associations in practically anything in life. And I got a lot of them during what's been going on
Video examples
Heading Into an Ambush PIPE...
I don't have a lot of memories I don't know if it's just I'm repressing it and I don't want to remember I just don't
Video examples
How to be "Team Human"...
it repressed what makes us most human. We ended up with social media. Does social media really connect people in new, interesting ways? No, social media is about using our data to predict our future behavior. Or when necessary, to influence our future behavior so that we act more in accordance with our statistical profiles.
Video examples
History vs. Sigmund...
He proposed that people are motivated by unconscious desires and repressed memories, and their problems can be addressed by making those motivations conscious through talk therapy. His influence towers above that of all other psychologists in the public eye.
Video examples
Sakinah Hofler: How...
they've asked me for money, and I've walked around them, and I did not acknowledge their humanity. And the list could go on and on, but you want to think of times when something might have happened sexually, times when you've been keeping things repressed,
Video examples
Emily Nagoski and Amelia...
and rage and repressed rage -- we've all got it. So our layperson's definition of burnout is, as you said, that feeling of being overwhelmed and exhausted by everything you have to do, while still worrying that you're not doing enough. Mm hmm.
Video examples
Humanity's Search for...
for the very first time, furnishing the yardstick of the universe. Meanwhile, a dutiful teenage boy in the Midwest was repressing his childhood love of astronomy and beginning his legal studies to fulfill his dying father's demand
Video examples
C.K. Williams: Poetry...
Me shyly, obliquely, trying not to be furtive. She boldly, unblinkingly, even pugnaciously, wrathfully even, when her bottle was empty. I was frightened of her. I felt like a child. I was afraid some repressed part of myself
Video examples
Neil MacGregor: 2600...
He'll let them return to their countries. And more important, he will let them all recover the gods, the statues, the temple vessels that had been confiscated. All the peoples that the Babylonians had repressed and removed
Video examples
How reliable is your...
it created some pretty bad problems for hostilities, primarily from the repressed memory therapists, who felt under attack, and by the patients whom they had influenced. I had sometimes armed guards at speeches
Video examples
Where does creativity...
So, when I look at creativity, I also think that it is this sense or this inability to repress, my looking at associations in practically anything in life. And I got a lot of them during what's been going on
Video examples
Heading Into an Ambush PIPE...
I don't have a lot of memories I don't know if it's just I'm repressing it and I don't want to remember I just don't
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Jodie Comer
English Actress
Emotions fascinate me, just being able to express myself through acting. I love that. And I think, in everyday life, you're always trying to repress your emotions. Like if you're sad, you don't want to show it to someone else.
Quote examples
Richard Ashcroft
English Musician
My job is to make grown men cry, to blow people's minds and elevate them, make them transcend and unlock emotions that have been repressed by life, their job, situation - that's what I do.
Quote examples
Anna Torv
Australian Actress
Why can't a woman be a little cooler in her emotions and a little quieter and more repressed without it being a huge thing? I've actually always quite enjoyed that, to tell you the truth.
Quote examples
Mary Whitehouse
British Activist
I never had any hang-ups about sex. As for being sexually repressed, nothing could be further from the truth. There are more hang-ups now than ever there were when I was growing up.
Quote examples
Gary Ross
American Actor
We repress the things we're scared of, but if we just look at and embrace the things we're scared of, it's a much fuller, richer life that's also not as scary.
Quote examples
Vaani Kapoor
Indian Actress
I think I have started to take life as it comes and quite uninhibitedly, without being repressed by the expectations of the society.
Quote examples
Cyril Connolly
English Journalist
As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.
Quote examples
Karl Kraus
Austrian Writer
Sexuality poorly repressed unsettles some families; well repressed, it unsettles the whole world.
Quote examples
Oliver Tambo
South African Politician
There is no way a spirit of resistance that has sunk so deep in the population can be repressed.
Quote examples
Charlotte Caffey
American Musician
My whole world up until punk was this total repressed Catholic lifestyle.
Quote examples
Jodie Comer
English Actress
Emotions fascinate me, just being able to express myself through acting. I love that. And I think, in everyday life, you're always trying to repress your emotions. Like if you're sad, you don't want to show it to someone else.
Quote examples
Richard Ashcroft
English Musician
My job is to make grown men cry, to blow people's minds and elevate them, make them transcend and unlock emotions that have been repressed by life, their job, situation - that's what I do.
Quote examples
Anna Torv
Australian Actress
Why can't a woman be a little cooler in her emotions and a little quieter and more repressed without it being a huge thing? I've actually always quite enjoyed that, to tell you the truth.
Quote examples
Mary Whitehouse
British Activist
I never had any hang-ups about sex. As for being sexually repressed, nothing could be further from the truth. There are more hang-ups now than ever there were when I was growing up.
Quote examples
Gary Ross
American Actor
We repress the things we're scared of, but if we just look at and embrace the things we're scared of, it's a much fuller, richer life that's also not as scary.
Quote examples
Vaani Kapoor
Indian Actress
I think I have started to take life as it comes and quite uninhibitedly, without being repressed by the expectations of the society.
Quote examples
Cyril Connolly
English Journalist
As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.
Quote examples
Karl Kraus
Austrian Writer
Sexuality poorly repressed unsettles some families; well repressed, it unsettles the whole world.
Quote examples
Oliver Tambo
South African Politician
There is no way a spirit of resistance that has sunk so deep in the population can be repressed.
Quote examples
Charlotte Caffey
American Musician
My whole world up until punk was this total repressed Catholic lifestyle.
Example 1 of 10
WordUp Chrome Extension
As you browse the web instantly look up words you don’t know.
Get Chrome Extension