REPRESSION: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for REPRESSION?

Need another word that means the same as “repression”? Find 22 synonyms and 30 related words for “repression” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Repression” are: suppression, quelling, crushing, squashing, stamping out, oppression, subjugation, domination, tyranny, subjection, despotism, dictatorship, authoritarianism, restraint, holding back, keeping back, keeping in check, control, keeping under control, stifling, smothering, bottling up

Repression as a Noun

Definitions of "Repression" as a noun

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “repression” as a noun can have the following definitions:

• A state of forcible subjugation.
• (psychiatry) the classical defense mechanism that protects you from impulses or ideas that would cause anxiety by preventing them from becoming conscious.
• The action or process of suppressing a thought or desire in oneself so that it remains unconscious.
• The restraint, prevention, or inhibition of a feeling, quality, etc.
• The action of subduing someone or something by force.
• The classical defense mechanism that protects you from impulses or ideas that would cause anxiety by preventing them from becoming conscious.
• The act of repressing; control by holding down.

Synonyms of "Repression" as a noun (22 Words)

authoritarianism	A person who behaves in a tyrannical manner.
bottling up	A vessel fitted with a flexible teat and filled with milk or formula; used as a substitute for breast feeding infants and very young children.
control	A mechanism that controls the operation of a machine. He had the chance to take the controls and fly the glider.
crushing	Forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority.
despotism	Dominance through threat of punishment and violence. The ideology of enlightened despotism.
dictatorship	A country governed by a dictator. The effects of forty years of dictatorship.
holding back	The act of retaining something.
keeping back	The financial means whereby one lives.
keeping in check	A cell in a jail or prison.
keeping under control	The main tower within the walls of a medieval castle or fortress.
oppression	Prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority. After years of oppression they finally revolted.
quelling	Forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority. The quelling of the rebellion.
restraint	A measure or condition that keeps someone or something under control. Restraints imposed on imports.
smothering	A stifling cloud of smoke.
squashing	Edible fruit of a squash plant; eaten as a vegetable.
stamping out	Machine consisting of a heavy bar that moves vertically for pounding or crushing ores.
stifling	Forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority. The stifling of all dissent.
subjection	The action of subjecting a country or person to one’s control, or the fact of being subjected. The country s subjection to European colonialism.
subjugation	Forced submission to control by others. The colonial subjugation of a country by means of brute military force.
suppression	The absence or non-development of a part or organ that is normally present. The suppression of heresy.
tyranny	(especially in ancient Greece) rule by one who has absolute power without legal right. The tyranny of the nine to five day.

Usage Examples of "Repression" as a noun

• An extraordinary panoply of sexual repressions and desires.
• Students sparked off events that ended in brutal repression.
• The long repression of Christian sects.
• The repression of anger can be positively harmful.
• His goal was the repression of insolence.
• The tsarist repressions.
• Children and adults pay a heavy price for their deep repression of thoughts about death.

Associations of “Repression” (30 Words)

barbarism	A word or expression which is badly formed according to traditional philological rules, e.g. a word formed from elements of different languages, such as breathalyser (English and Greek) or television (Greek and Latin). The collapse of civilization and the return to barbarism.
barbarous	Primitive in customs and culture. A remote and barbarous country.
bloodthirsty	Marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed. A bloodthirsty occult movie.
brutal	Disagreeably direct and precise. A brutal winter.
brutish	Resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility. A dull and brutish man.
conquistador	An adventurer (especially one who led the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.
cruel	Spoil or ruin (an opportunity or a chance of success. Cruel tortures.
draconian	(of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe. The Nazis destroyed the independence of the press by a series of draconian laws.
ferocious	Very great; extreme. A ferocious headache.
ferocity	The state or quality of being ferocious. She hated him with a ferocity that astonished her.
gory	Involving or showing violence and bloodshed. A gory horror film.
harsh	Severe. Wild and harsh country full of hot sand and cactus.
heinous	Extremely wicked, deeply criminal. Heinous accusations.
inhuman	Belonging to or resembling something nonhuman. A babel of inhuman noises.
inhumane	Without compassion for misery or suffering; cruel. Biological weapons are considered too inhumane to be used.
machiavellian	Of or relating to Machiavelli or the principles of conduct he recommended.
merciless	Having or showing no mercy. A merciless attack with a blunt instrument.
oppression	Mental pressure or distress. A response to collective poverty and oppression.
persecutor	A person who persecutes someone, especially for their ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation or political beliefs. He is badly scarred by his treatment at the hands of his persecutors.
pitiless	Showing no pity; cruel. A night of pitiless rain.
rampage	Violently angry and destructive behavior. Several thousand demonstrators rampaged through the city.
remorseless	Without regret or guilt. A monster of remorseless cruelty.
restraint	The state of being physically constrained. Car safety restraints.
ruthless	Without mercy or pity. A ruthless manipulator.
sadistic	Deriving pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others. She took a sadistic pleasure in tormenting him.
sanguinary	Marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed-G.W.Johnson. They lost heavily in the sanguinary campaigns that followed.
savage	A member of an uncivilized people. A savage slap.
truculence	Obstreperous and defiant aggressiveness.