All 9 Uses of
suppress
in
Invisible Man by Ellison
- I had just come from dinner and in bending forward to suppress a belch, I accidentally pressed the button on the wheel and the belch became a loud and shattering blast of the horn.†
Chpt 2
- …and the walk of the leaves and branches above us as we moved slow through the dusk so restless with scents of lilac, honeysuckle and verbena, and the feel of spring greenness; and I recall the sudden arpeggios of laughter lilting across the tender, springtime grass-gay-welling, far-floating, fluent, spontaneous, a bell-like feminine fluting, then suppressed; as though snuffed swiftly and irrevocably beneath the quiet solemnity of the vespered air now vibrant with somber chapel bells.†
Chpt 5
- Dr. Bledsoe said, suppressing a nasty laugh.†
Chpt 6
- I recalled my expulsion, feeling quick anger and attempting to suppress it immediately; but now I was not quite successful, my resentment stuck out at the edges, making me uncomfortable.†
Chpt 8
- Or perhaps I was catching up with myself and had put into words feelings which I had hitherto suppressed.†
Chpt 11
- I hurried on, suppressing a savage urge to push my fist through the pane.
Chpt 13 *suppressing = keeping under control
- I remembered my father's story of how he had been beaten blind in a crooked fight, of the scandal that had been suppressed, and how the fighter had died in a home for the blind.†
Chpt 16
- I stood there, hearing the rapping of his gavel echoing in my ears, thinking the woman question and searching their faces for signs of amusement, listening to their voices as they filed out into the hall for the slightest sound of suppressed laughter, stood there fighting the sense that I had just been made the butt of an outrageous joke and all the more so since their faces revealed no awareness.†
Chpt 18
- They had touched upon something deeper than protest, or religion; though now images of all the church meetings of my life welled up within me with much suppressed and forgotten anger.†
Chpt 21
Definition:
-
(suppress) trying to keep under controlThe exact meaning of suppress can depend upon its context. For example:
- "suppressed the revolution" -- to stop others from doing something by force
- "suppressed a smile" -- kept something from happening
- "suppressed the story" -- kept news from spreading
- "suppressed her fear" -- controlled an emotion
- "suppressed the memory" -- avoided thinking about (perhaps even removed from conscious memory)
editor's notes: Synonym Comparison (if you're into word choice):
Suppress and repress can be interchanged; though in psychology something that is repressed is done unconsciously while something that is suppressed is done voluntarily.