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Origin and history of repressed

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.

also from 1660s

Entries linking to repressed

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.

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    reprimand
    for a fault," 1630s, from French réprimande (16c.), earlier reprimende "reproof," from Latin reprimenda "that is to be repressed..." (as in reprimenda culpa "fault to be checked," reprimenda res "thing that ought to be repressed")....
    psychoanalysis
    "the theory or therapy of treating mental disorders by investigating unconscious elements and bringing repressed fears and...
    illuminati
    since 1797 used as a translation of German Illuminaten, name of a secret society founded 1776 in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, (repressed...
    simmer
    The figurative sense, in reference to feelings, "be agitated or ready to boil over, be in a state of repressed excitement...
    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
    crush
    mid-14c., "smash, shatter, break into fragments or small particles; force down and bruise by heavy weight," also figuratively, "overpower, subdue," from Old French cruissir (Modern French écraser), variant of croissir "to gnash (teeth), crash, smash, break," which is perhaps from
    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
    forget
    Old English forgietan "lose the power of recalling to the mind; fail to remember; neglect inadvertently," from for-, used here probably with privative force, "away, amiss, opposite" + gietan "to grasp" (see get (v.)). To "un-get," hence "to lose" from the mind. A common Germanic

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