repress
/ri'pres/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To subdue or suppress by force: To put down or control something, especially a rebellion, protest, or undesirable activity, using authority or power.
- To keep under control or restraint: To consciously hold back or prevent an emotion, impulse, memory, or action from being expressed or becoming conscious.
Examples of Usage
- Verb:
- The regime moved quickly to repress the student protests. (The government used force to stop the demonstrations.)
- She tried to repress her feelings of jealousy. (She attempted to consciously keep her jealousy from showing.)
- He repressed the traumatic memory for many years. (He kept the distressing memory out of his conscious mind.)
Advanced Usage
- In psychology: Refers to the unconscious defense mechanism of excluding distressing thoughts, feelings, or memories from conscious awareness.
- The theory suggests that we may repress painful childhood experiences.
- "To repress a smile/laugh/yawn": To consciously stop oneself from smiling, laughing, or yawning.
- He had to repress a laugh during the serious meeting.
Variants and Related Words
- Repression (n): The act of repressing or the state of being repressed.
- The political repression led to widespread fear.
- Repressive (adj): Serving to repress, restrictive, harsh.
- The country was under a repressive regime.
- Repressed (adj): Subjected to repression; (of a person or emotion) characterized by the inhibition of emotional or instinctual impulses.
- He was a very repressed individual who rarely showed emotion.
Synonyms
- Suppress: To forcibly put an end to or restrain.
- Quell: To put an end to (a rebellion or other disorder), typically by the use of force.
- Subdue: To overcome, quieten, or bring under control.
- Restrain: To prevent (someone or something) from doing something; to keep under control.
Antonyms
- Express: To convey (a thought or feeling) in words or by gestures and conduct.
- Release: To allow or enable to escape from confinement; to set free.
- Encourage: To give support, confidence, or hope to someone; to stimulate the development of an activity.
Related Phrases and Idioms
- "To repress one's emotions/feelings": To consciously hold back one's emotions.
- It's not healthy to constantly repress your feelings.
- "A repressed society/memory": A society controlled by severe force, or a memory kept out of conscious thought.
- She grew up in a culturally repressed society.
Verb
- block the action of
- put out of one's consciousness
- conceal or hide
- smother a yawn
- muffle one's anger
- strangle a yawn
- put down by force or intimidation
- The government quashes any attempt of an uprising
- China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently
- The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land