re-press

[ree-pres] /ˈriˈprɛs/

verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

to press again or anew.

Origin

1870-75; re- + press¹

repress

[ri-pres] /rɪˈprɛs/

verb (used with object)

to keep under control, check, or suppress (desires, feelings, actions, tears, etc.).

to keep down or suppress (anything objectionable).

to put down or quell (sedition, disorder, etc.).

to reduce (persons) to subjection.

Psychoanalysis. to reject (painful or disagreeable ideas, memories, feelings, or impulses) from the conscious mind.

verb (used without object)

to initiate or undergo repression.

Origin

1325-75; Middle English repressen < Latin repressus (past participle of reprimere), equivalent to re- re- + pressus, past participle of primere to press¹

Related forms

repressible, adjective

nonrepressible, adjective

nonrepressibleness, noun

nonrepressibly, adverb

overrepress, verb (used with object)

unrepressible, adjective

Can be confused

oppress, repress (see synonym study at oppress)

Synonyms

1. bridle, control. See check¹ . 3. subdue, quash. 4. crush.

Antonyms

1–4. foster.

Examples from the web for repress

My inability to repress my tongue may be another problem.
They see the images they otherwise would forget, the scenes they otherwise would repress.
The first obstacle are genes that prevent nerve growth and the second are chemical signals that repress nerve growth.
In some cases, this microscopic combat works in our favour, when harmless species repress the growth of deadlier ones.
Sometimes one represses the cognitive component of it, but it's often more difficult to repress the emotional component.
Such genes, stimulated or deactivated, can produce or repress proteins that alter both the shape and the behavior of each cell.
But this grammatical exuberance the scheme of my work did not allow me to repress.
It was a painful sight which recalled to her mind a reproach and this caused her to repress another series of thoughts.
It can increase the expression of the genes that enhance cell division and inhibit the ones that repress it.
By drawing attention to them the militants become accessories to the blasphemies they ostensibly seek to repress.

British Dictionary definitions for repress

repress

/rɪˈprɛs/

verb (transitive)

to keep (feelings, etc) under control; suppress or restrain: to repress a desire

to put into a state of subjugation: to repress a people

(psychoanal) to banish (thoughts and impulses that conflict with conventional standards of conduct) from one's conscious mind

Derived Forms

represser, noun
repressible, adjective

Word Origin

C14: from Latin reprimere to press back, from re- + premere to press1

Word Origin and History for repress

late 14c., "to check, restrain," from Latin repressus, past participle of reprimere "hold back, curb," figuratively "check, confine, restrain, refrain," from re- "back" (see re-) + premere "to push" (see press (v.1)).

Used of feelings or desires from late 14c.; in the purely psychological sense, it represents German verdrängen (Freud, 1893), first attested 1904 (implied in repressed). Meaning "to put down" (a rebellion, etc.) is from late 15c. Related: Repressed; repressing.

repress in Medicine

repress re·press (rĭ-prěs')
v. re·pressed, re·press·ing, re·press·es

To hold back by an act of volition.
To exclude something from the conscious mind.