repressive

Serving to repress or suppress; oppressive

Adjective

  1. Serving to repress or suppress; oppressive
    • Human law is indeed repressive, but repressive on moral principles comprehensively applied to the whole community, and commanding the approval of the moral sense of the governed - 1846, Allan Freer, The North British...
    • First, the classical rule forbids any unilateral right to use force to overthrow a regime on the sole grounds that it is repressive in character. - 1989, Louis Henkin, Right V. Might:

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re-bor. Middle English re- English re- English press English repress Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English repressive From repress + -ive.

Forms

more repressive most repressive

Derived

antirepressive autorepressive corepressive derepressive immunorepressive nonrepressive repressively repressiveness repressivism transrepressive unrepressive