repress
rih-PRESverbMeaning to hold back or keep down, especially a feeling
Memory hook RE-PRESS: press it back DOWN. Kai’s block tower crashes, and he feels the anger rising, but he presses it back down and takes a slow breath: he represses it.
Dev had to repress a laugh when the principal’s microphone squeaked.
In context For years she repressed her wish to become an artist, hiding her sketchbooks in a drawer, until a teacher saw them and urged her to apply to art school.
Similar hold back, restrain, suppress, stifle
Opposite express, release, vent
From Latin reprimere, “to press back”: re- (back) + premere (to press).