suppression

UK: /səˈprɛʃ^ən/ US: /səˈprɛʃən/ ,(sə presh′ən)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

sup•pres•sion  (sə presh′ən), n. 

1. the act of suppressing.
2. the state of being suppressed.
3. Psychiatry conscious inhibition of an impulse.
4. Botany the absence of parts normally or usually present due to the action of frost, disease, or insects.
5. Electronics, Radio and Television [Radio, Electronics.] the elimination of a component of a varying emission, as the elimination of a frequency or group of frequencies from a signal.
6. Electricity the reduction or elimination of irregular current oscillations or frequencies in a circuit.

• Latin suppressiōn- (stem of suppressiō) a pressing under. See suppress, -ion
• 1520–30

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

suppression / səˈprɛʃən/ noun

1. the act or process of suppressing or the condition of being suppressed
2. the conscious avoidance of unpleasant thoughts
   Compare repression2

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

sup•press /səˈprɛs/   v. [~ + object]

1. to put an end to the activities of (a person, group, etc.):
   The government suppressed any movement toward democracy.
2. Psychiatry to hold back deliberately (an impulse or action):
   He had a hard time suppressing his anger.
3. to keep (a thought, memory, etc.) out of conscious awareness:
   I think you're suppressing your feelings of hostility.
4. to withhold (evidence, a book, etc.) or keep back from public knowledge:
   The president's office suppressed the release of those figures.
5. to stop or arrest (a cough, hemorrhage, etc.):
   to suppress a cough.

sup•pres•sant, n. 

[countable] The doctor gave you a cough suppressant.

sup•pres•sion /səˈprɛʃən/  n. [uncountable] See -press-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

sup•press  (sə pres′), v.t. 

1. to put an end to the activities of (a person, body of persons, etc.):
   to suppress the Communist party.
2. to do away with by or as by authority; abolish;
   stop (a practice, custom, etc.).
3. Psychiatry to keep in or repress (a feeling, smile, groan, etc.).
4. to withhold from disclosure or publication (truth, evidence, a book, names, etc.).
5. to stop or arrest (a flow, hemorrhage, cough, etc.).
6. to vanquish or subdue (a revolt, rebellion, etc.);
   quell;
   crush.
7. Electricity to reduce or eliminate (an irregular or undesired oscillation or frequency) in a circuit.

• Latin suppressus (past participle of supprimere to press down), equivalent. to sup- sup- + pressus (see press¹)
• late Middle English suppressen 1375–1425

sup•pressed•ly  (sə prest′lē, -pres′id-), adv.  sup•press′i•ble, adj. 
sup•pres′sive, adj. 
sup•pres′sive•ly, adv. 
sup•pres′sor, sup•press′er, n.