Suppress something

majidkh

September 01, 2009 01:35 PM

Suppress something

Hello
Is it OK to use suppress instead of repress in the following sentences?

1- But, how incomplete is our political system today; does it satisfy or repress its citizens?

2- The government repress the people/peasants.

3- So, after practicing lifting her bed with the powers of her mind, she is ready to face anything or anyone who tries to repress her.

4- UN banned him from repressing his people.

5- Turkish kurds have been repressed for decades by the Ankara government.

Thanks a lot.

poli	September 01, 2009 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by majidkh (Post 49046)

Good question:
Supress is often used for censoring information. The government supressed the information. Therefore it was not common knowledge.

Repression has more to do with people. Repressed people have no voice.
Repressed peoples' words are supressed.

AngelicaDeAlquezar

September 01, 2009 03:04 PM

Suppressing citizens is a very serious crime... they're usually just repressed. ;)

pjt33

September 01, 2009 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poli (Post 49048)

Suppress is often used for censoring information.

I wonder whether that's a special case of a more general usage: you suppress an activity. So you would talk about suppressing a mutiny, for example. Suppressing a newspaper might just be a shorthand for suppressing the publication of that newspaper.

Tomisimo

September 01, 2009 03:09 PM

You suppress words, information, knowledge, truth, etc.
You repress people, events, actions, etc.
(it's not really cut and dried, but I think this will help to explain it)

majidkh

September 02, 2009 12:17 PM

Thank you guys for your replies.

I'm not still quite sure that I understood your explanations clearly .
What I interpreted from your comments ,the use of suppress is not OK in these contexts(except AngelicaDeAlquezar that argued doing so makes a bit difference in the sentences).If I misinterpreted , please explain what difference in meaning is made when using the two words in the sentences?

Regards.

EmpanadaRica

September 02, 2009 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomisimo (Post 49064)

You suppress words, information, knowledge, truth, etc.
You repress people, events, actions, etc.
(it's not really cut and dried, but I think this will help to explain it)

Well besides this, I think there is also the psychological connotation with 'repress'. ' Repressed feelings' especially, or 'repressed thoughts' or 'repressed sexuality'....(Freudian slips and so on..) :p :D

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