Suppression

How to spell suppression

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce suppression

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does suppression mean?

1. nounThe act of putting an end to something by force, or of holding back something such as feelings, evidence, or activity.

Suppression in a sentence

• The regime was condemned for its violent suppression of peaceful protest.

• The report criticised the company for its suppression of safety data.

Where does suppression come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb supprimere, which meant 'to press down' or 'to hold back', formed from sub, meaning 'under' or 'down', and premere, meaning 'to press'. From the supine stem came suppressio, the act of pressing down or keeping under control. English took the word in during the 1400s, at first in the sense of putting an end to something by force, and later extending it to the holding back of feelings, evidence, or information. The same premere root presses on through a whole family of English words, including 'press', 'pressure', 'compress', and 'express'. The spelling trap is built into its history: the double p comes from sub assimilating to sup before the p of premere, and the -ssion ending preserves the Latin -ssio, so the doubled letters are not arbitrary at all.

How the word is built

• sup- (variant of sub-: under, down)
• press (from Latin premere: to press)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)