repress. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

repress

SYLLABICATION:	re·press
PRONUNCIATION:	r-prs
VERB:	Inflected forms: re·pressed, re·press·ing, re·press·es
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To hold back by an act of volition: couldn't repress a smirk. 2. To put down by force, usually before total control has been lost; quell: repress a rebellion. 3. Psychology To exclude (painful or disturbing memories, for example) automatically or unconsciously from the conscious mind. 4. Biology To block (transcription of a gene) by combination of a protein to an operator gene.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	To take repressive action.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English repressen, from Latin reprimere, repress- : re-, re- + premere, to press; see per-⁴ in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	re·pressi·bili·ty —NOUN re·pressi·ble —ADJECTIVE


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.