suppressed

/səˈprɛst/

/səˈprɛst/

Other forms: suppressedly

If something is suppressed, it has been kept secret or forcibly restricted. You may hear rumors about a suppressed report on a politician's activities — it's kept secret, so you don't know the facts.

It doesn't always take an outside force to make something suppressed — you can do it yourself. You might occasionally have a suppressed feeling of rage. (Psychiatrists, who are in the business of bringing such feelings to light, might frown on this.) Sometimes something that's suppressed is also oppressed — that is, harshly put down or brutally controlled, like a suppressed minority group. Both suppressed and oppressed come from the same Latin word, opprimere, meaning "to press against, or crush."

Definitions of suppressed

1. adjective

   held in check or kept back with difficulty
   “suppressed laughter”

   synonyms: smothered, stifled, strangled

   inhibited

   held back or restrained or prevented
2. adjective

   manifesting or subjected to suppression
   “a suppressed press”

   synonyms:

   silenced

   reduced to silence
3. adjective

   kept from public knowledge by various means;
   synonyms:

   burked

   suppressed quietly or indirectly

   hushed-up

   (used of information or news) kept secret by using influence

   quelled, quenched, squelched

   subdued or overcome

   unreleased

   not (or not yet) made available for distribution or publication

   antonyms:

   publicized

   made known; especially made widely known

   advertised

   called to public attention

   heralded

   publicly announced

   promulgated, published

   formally made public