What does suppress mean?
Word: Suppress
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Suppress means to stop something by force or power, such as a protest; also to hold back a feeling or action, like a yawn or a laugh.
Synonyms: crush, stifle, restrain, hold back
Antonyms: express, encourage
How do you spell suppress?
Syllables: sup - press
Tricky part: The word starts with sup and a double p, because sub changed to sup before press; many students write only one p.
Watch out for: supress, surpress, sapress
Memory tip: Two p's, like two hands pushing a lid down: suppress needs both of them straight after su.
Suppress in a sentence
Example 1: The officials tried to suppress the report, but it still reached the newspapers.
Example 2: Firefighters worked all night to suppress the forest fire.
Example 3: Aman tried to suppress a laugh when the teacher's chair squeaked.
Fun Fact
Suppress comes from Latin sub, under, and premere, to press. The b of sub turned into p before press, which is why the word has two p's.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word: suppress
a) smother
b) conceal
c) release
d) silence
Show answer
c) release. To suppress is to hold something down; to release is to let it go.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The goalkeeper tried hard to suppres a smile when the referee ruled the goal offside.
a) offside
b) goalkeeper
c) suppres
d) referee
Show answer
c) suppres. Press ends in a double s, and so does suppress.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
ssrpupes
a) suppress
b) suppose
c) surpass
d) support
Show answer
a) suppress. Suppose and support have an o and surpass has an a, but this jumble's only vowels are u and e.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Riya suppressed her anger at the match. This means she ____.
a) kept it hidden and stayed calm
b) wrote it down in her diary
c) shouted at the umpire
d) told her friend all about it
Show answer
a) kept it hidden and stayed calm
2. A government that suppresses news ____.
a) translates it into many languages
b) stops it from being shared
c) prints it in every paper
d) reads it aloud on the radio
Show answer
b) stops it from being shared
