What does suffered mean?
Suffered is the past tense and past participle of suffer, a verb meaning to experience pain, illness, injury, hardship, loss, or another adverse condition. It is also used for people or things harmed or disadvantaged by circumstances: a community may suffer from neglect, or a plan may suffer a setback. When the cause of suffering is an illness or condition, the usual construction is “suffer from,” as in “They suffered from prolonged drought.” The verb can instead take a direct object when naming what was experienced, such as an injury, consequence, or defeat. In more formal usage, “suffer something to happen” means to permit it, usually with an implication that greater action was required. Although the wording often suggests endurance, suffered does not necessarily mean to tolerate patiently; it simply reports that pain or hardship was experienced.
verbSuffered is the past tense and past participle of suffer: to experience pain, hardship, loss, or an adverse condition; to undergo something unpleasant; or to be harmed or disadvantaged.
- To experience pain, illness, injury, or another adverse condition.
- To undergo hardship, loss, or an unpleasant experience.
- To be harmed, disadvantaged, or deprived as a result of an action or event.
"Many residents suffered severe flooding after the river broke its banks."
"The sailors suffered terrible injuries in the storm."
"The policy change suffered a sharp decline in public support."
Its Latin ancestor literally meant “to bear under,” giving the word its enduring sense of bearing pain or hardship.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does suffered come from?
Suffered is the past tense and past participle of suffer. The word entered Middle English through Anglo-French sof(e)rir and ultimately derives from Latin sufferre, usually analyzed as sub- “under” and ferre “to bear.” Several English words, including confer, defer, refer, and transfer, derive from other prefixed forms of the same Latin verb ferre.
Related word forms
How suffered is actually used
In its most common medical sense, suffered is normally followed by from: “She suffered from arthritis.” It can also take a direct object for injuries, consequences, or setbacks: “He suffered a broken leg.” In formal English, suffered may also mean “allowed to happen,” as in “No one suffered the robbery to go unanswered.”