Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of suppressing.
  • noun The state of being suppressed.
  • noun Psychiatry Conscious exclusion of unacceptable desires, thoughts, or memories from the mind.
  • noun Botany The failure of an organ or part to develop.
  • noun Genetics The inhibition of gene expression.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of suppressing, crushing, or quelling, or the state of being suppressed, crushed, quelled, or the like: as, the suppression of a riot, insurrection, or tumult.
  • noun The act of concealing or withholding from utterance, disclosure, revelation, or publication: as, the suppression of truth, of evidence, or of reports.
  • noun The stoppage or obstruction or the morbid retention of discharges: as, the suppression of a diarrhea, of saliva, or of urine.
  • noun In botany, the absence, as in flowers, of parts requisite to theoretical completeness; abortion.
  • noun In psychology, a phenomenon of binocular vision, consisting in the exclusive predominance of a single monocular image and the consequent disappearance of the other.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of suppressing, or the state of being suppressed; repression
  • noun (Med.) Complete stoppage of a natural secretion or excretion.
  • noun (Gram.) Omission.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act or instance of suppressing.
  • noun The state of being suppressed.
  • noun A process in which a person consciously excludes anxiety-producing thoughts, feelings, or memories.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority
  • noun the act of withholding or withdrawing some book or writing from publication or circulation
  • noun (psychology) the conscious exclusion of unacceptable thoughts or desires
  • noun the failure to develop some part or organ

Etymologies

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Examples

  • But as he seems to think that what he terms the suppression of the objections ought not to have been made “silently,” I now break that silence, and state exactly what it is that I suppressed, and why.

    A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive John Stuart Mill 1839

  • About 300 reporters and photographers rallied Saturday against what they called the suppression of press freedom and freedom of expression during Vice Premier Li Keqiang's visit.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2011

  • The Chamber had fought what it called the suppression of company participation in elections, and hailed the Supreme Court decision in the case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

  • Indian army is stopping the violence which you all call suppression then so the Pakistan army is in the same boat.

    arabnews - frontpage 2010

  • The Chamber had fought what it called the suppression of company participation in elections, and hailed the Supreme Court decision in the case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

  • Voter suppression is the most under-reported political scandal of our lifetimes.

    Glenn W. Smith: The Struggle for Voting Rights in 2010 Glenn W. Smith 2010

  • Voter suppression is the most under-reported political scandal of our lifetimes.

    Glenn W. Smith: The Struggle for Voting Rights in 2010 Glenn W. Smith 2010

  • This week, I want to discuss something I call "suppression, regression, depression."

    Craig Ing: Suppression, Regression, Depression Craig Ing 2011

  • •Trouble spot:: With at least five new starters projected for an overhauled defense, fixing the run suppression is a priority.

    'More consistent, more urgent' Falcons out to defy own history 2009

  • On the other hand, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility have been critical of her work there, claiming that she has a "highly politicized approach to decision-making that resulted in suppression of scientific information, issuance of gag orders and threats against professional staff members who dared to voice concerns."

    Another Woman Scientist on the Obama Team: Lisa Perez Jackson of the EPA Peggy 2009

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