Repression

noun

/rɪˈprɛʃən/

The use of force or authority by a government to suppress political dissent, restrict civil liberties, and crush opposition movements; during the Quit India Movement, British repression included mass arrests of over 100,000 people, machine-gun fire on crowds, aerial strafing, press censorship, and collective fines on villages.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

When a state responds to legitimate dissent with internet shutdowns, preventive detentions and the throttling of a free press, repression may secure a fragile short-term order, but it corrodes the very democratic legitimacy on which durable governance rests.

Synonyms

oppressionsuppressionsubjugationcoerciontyrannypersecution

Antonyms

liberationemancipationfreedomtolerance

🌱 Word Family

repress (v), repressed (adj), repressive (adj), repressively (adv), repressor (n)

🔡 Root

Latin reprimere = to press back; re- = back + premere = to press; repressiōnem = a pressing back, restraint

📜 Etymology

From Latin repressiōnem ("a pressing back, restraint"), from reprimere ("to press back"), from re- ("back") + premere ("to press"); first attested in English in the late 14th century.

🧠 Memory Hook

Re-PRESS: to press something back down again and again -- a regime that keeps pressing its people down keeps them under repression.

🏛️ History & Culture 📖 Seen in: Quit India Movement & Final Phase (193...

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