'Repress' is Latin for 'press back' — Freud made 'repression' the cornerstone of psychoanalysis.
Definition
To restrain or hold back an impulse, feeling, or action; to put down or subdue by force; in psychology, to unconsciously exclude a disturbing thought from awareness.
The Full Story
Latin14th centurywell-attested
From Latin 'reprimere' (to press back, check, restrain), past participle 'repressus,' a compound of 're-' (back) and 'premere' (to press, to push). Latin 'premere' derives from PIE *per- (to strike), with an extended form *prem-/*pres- found across the family: Sanskrit pīḍayati (he presses, squeezes), Lithuanian 'spiriù' (I press), and Old Church Slavonic 'prěti' (to press). Theword entered Middle English
Did you know?
Theword 'reprimand' is a cousin of 'repress' — both from Latin 'reprimere' (to press back). A reprimand is literally a 'pressingback' of someone's behavior through verbal correction. The '-mand' endingcomes from the Latin gerundive 'reprimenda' (things to be pressed back, matters
unwanted desires. The PIE root *per- thus traces a line from physical striking through political suppression to psychoanalytic theory. Key roots: re- (Latin: "back, again"), premere / pressum (Latin: "to press").