Expressed

How to spell expressed

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce expressed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does expressed mean?

1. verbConveyed or stated a thought, feeling, or opinion in words or some other form.
2. adjectiveStated openly and definitely, rather than implied or assumed.

Expressed in a sentence

• verb

  She expressed her gratitude in a short note to the whole team.

• adjective

  The contract may not be altered without the expressed consent of both parties.

• verb

  Several residents expressed concern about the proposed parking changes.

• adjective

  Copying the material breached the author's expressed wishes.

Where does expressed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of the verb 'express', which traces back to the Latin verb exprimere, meaning to press or squeeze out. That verb was built from the prefix ex-, meaning out, and premere, meaning to press, the same root that gives us 'pressure' and 'compress'. Its past participle expressus carried the literal sense of something pressed out, and from there a figurative meaning grew: to force out, and so to make a thought clear or put it into words. English borrowed the word through Old French in the fourteenth century, and the regular ending -ed was simply added in English to form the past tense and participle. Remembering that 'press' sits whole and unchanged at the heart of the word helps fix the double-s spelling, with only a single -ed tacked on at the end.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• press (to press)
• -ed (past-tense/participle suffix)