What does repressing mean?
Repressing means restraining, suppressing, or holding something back. The expression is especially common when someone tries to prevent an emotion, impulse, sound, or reaction from becoming apparent: one may repress anger, a laugh, a cry, or an impulse to speak. It can also refer to the suppression of activity or opposition, as when a government represses dissent. In psychology, the word may describe a persistent tendency to withhold or control emotional expression. Repressing is therefore stronger and more suggestive of active inhibition than simply neglecting or avoiding something, but it should not be confused with depressing, which describes the production of sadness or despondency. The term is used in both formal and informal English and is especially common in discussions of emotion, behavior, and social control.
To restrain or suppress an emotion, impulse, expression, activity, or opposition.
"The child was unable to repress his excitement."
The present participle repressing is commonly used when describing an attempted or habitual act of restraint.
Tending or serving to restrain, suppress, or hold something back.
"The speaker used a repressing gesture to silence the crowd."
Repressing means holding something back, whether it is a sound, an emotion, or a rebellion.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does repressing come from?
The word comes from Latin reprimere, meaning “to press back,” with the form repressare developing in Medieval Latin. English adopted it in the context of suppressing, restraining, or holding back. The same Latin root underlies cognates such as compress, express, impress, and depress.
Related word forms
How repressing is actually used
The word is commonly associated with emotions or impulses that someone consciously tries not to express. In the psychological sense, it is sometimes used to describe a habitual pattern of withholding emotion rather than a single deliberate act.
Easily confused with repressing
Repressing means restraining or suppressing something, whereas depressing means causing sadness or despondency.