Suppressing

How to spell suppressing

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce suppressing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does suppressing mean?

1. verbHolding back, restraining, or preventing something such as an emotion, reaction, or piece of information from being expressed or made known.

Suppressing in a sentence

• She kept suppressing a yawn during the long afternoon meeting.

• The report accused the company of suppressing evidence about the faulty batteries.

Where does suppressing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb supprimere, meaning 'to press down' or 'to hold back', formed from sub, meaning 'under' or 'down', combined with premere, meaning 'to press'. Before a 'p', the prefix sub assimilated into 'sup', which is why the spelling carries a doubled 'p' rather than a single one. The verb passed into English in the late 1300s through legal and administrative writing, where it described putting down a revolt or quashing something officially. Over time it broadened to cover holding back emotions, information, or physical reactions such as a cough. The very same premere root survives in close relatives like 'press', 'compress', and 'express', and recognising that 'press' sits whole inside the word is the easiest way to keep the doubled 'p' and the 'ess' both correct.

How the word is built

• sup- (variant of sub-: down, under)
• press (to press)
• -ing (present participle)