repress
ri-PRESS
/rɪˈpres/
To unconsciously push painful memories, thoughts, or desires out of awareness.
Strictly unconscious in psychological contexts; the individual is unaware they are doing it.
The story behind the word. From Latin 'reprimere', meaning to press back or check. Sigmund Freud adopted the German term 'Verdrängung' and translated it into Latin-derived terms to describe how the ego hides threatening impulses.
Word relationships
- submerge: Submerge means putting under water, used metaphorically; repress is specific to unconscious defense mechanisms.
- stifle: Stifle usually implies conscious smothering of an action or sound.
- express: To release or make thoughts and feelings known.
Commonly confused with
- suppress: Repress is unconscious memory blocking; suppress is a conscious effort to stop a thought or impulse.
Word family
- repression (noun): The psychological action of unconsciously restraining a feeling or impulse.
- repressive (adjective): Inhibiting or restraining the freedom or expression of something.
Collocations
- repress memories
- repress emotions
- repress desires
- unconsciously repress
Example sentences
- "Patients often repress traumatic memories until therapeutic intervention brings them to light." Psychoanalysis
Memory hook
REPRESS = Pushing back into the RE-cesses of the UNCONSCIOUS mind. Unconscious pressing down.
When not to use
Do not use if the person is deliberately or consciously hiding their feelings.
Fun facts
- Freud considered repression the cornerstone on which the whole structure of psychoanalysis rests.
Related words
Explore more words
suppress, subconscious, internalize, retain, compulsive, impulsive
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