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Origin and history of repress

repress(v.)

late 14c., "to check, restrain (sin, error); to overcome, put down, subdue (riot, rebellion);" from Latin repressus, past participle of reprimere "hold back, curb," figuratively "check, confine, restrain, refrain," from re- "back" (see re-) + premere "to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress" (from PIE root *per- (4) "to strike").

Used of feelings or desires from late 14c.; in the purely psychological sense "keep out of the conscious mind, keep in the subconscious" it represents German verdrängen (Freud, 1893), that sense of the word first attested in English in 1904 (implied in repressed). Related: Repressed; repressing.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to repress

repressed(adj.)

1660s, "restrained, checked," past-participle adjective from repress (v.). Psychological sense of "kept out of the conscious mind, kept in the subconscious" is attested by 1904.

irrepressible(adj.)

"not able to be controlled or restrained," 1763, from assimilated form of in- (1) "not, opposite of" + repress (v.) + -ible.

Increase of population, which is filling the States out to their very borders, together with a new and extended network of railroads and other avenues, and an internal commerce which daily becomes more intimate, is rapidly bringing the States into a higher and more perfect social unity or consolidation. Thus, these antagonistic systems are continually coming into closer contact, and collision results.
Shall I tell you what this collision means? They who think that it is accidental, unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical agitators, and therefor ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation, or entirely a free-labor nation. [William H. Seward, speech at Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 2, 1858]

Related: Irrepressibly. "Common Sense" (1777) has unrepressible.

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quash
the modern English word is a merger of two words, both in Middle English as quashen, from two unrelated Latin verbs. 1. "to suppress, overcome" (mid-13c.); "to make void, annul, nullify, veto" (mid-14c.), from Old French quasser, quassier, casser "to annul, declare void," and dir
subdue
late 14c., subduen, "to conquer (an army, a people, a land) and reduce to subjection," from Old French souduire (but this meant "deceive, seduce"), from Latin subducere "draw away, lead away, carry off; withdraw" (see subduce; also compare subduct). The primary sense in English s
reduce
late 14c., reducen, "bring back" (to a place or state, a sense now obsolete), also "to diminish" (something), from Old French reducer (14c.), from Latin reducere "lead back, bring back," figuratively "restore, replace," from re- "back" (see re-) + ducere "bring, lead" (from PIE r
confutation
false," mid-15c., from Latin confutationem (nominative confutatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of confutare "repress...
hinder
Old English hindrian "to harm, injure, impair, check, repress," from Proto-Germanic *hinderojan (source also of Old Norse...
tenet
indicative of tenere "to hold, grasp, keep, have possession, maintain," also "reach, gain, acquire, obtain; hold back, repress...
restrain
That which we restrain we keep within limits; that which we restrict we keep within certain definite limits; that which we repress...
swallow
"ingest through the throat" (transitive), Middle English swolwen, from Old English swelgan "swallow, imbibe, absorb" (class III strong verb; past tense swealg, past participle swolgen), from Proto-Germanic *swelgan/*swelhan (source also of Old Saxon farswelgan, Old Norse svelgja
change
c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
inhibit
early 15c., "to forbid, prohibit," back-formation from inhibition or else from Latin inhibitus, past participle of inhibere "to hold in, hold back, keep back," from in- "in, on" (from PIE root *en "in") + habere "to hold" (from PIE root *ghabh- "to give or receive"). Psychologica

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