suffer
Americanverb (used without object)
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to undergo or feel pain or distress.
The patient is still suffering.
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to sustain injury, disadvantage, or loss.
One's health suffers from overwork. The business suffers from lack of capital.
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to undergo a penalty, as of death.
The traitor was made to suffer on the gallows.
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to endure pain, disability, death, etc., patiently or willingly.
verb (used with object)
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to undergo, be subjected to, or endure (pain, distress, injury, loss, or anything unpleasant).
to suffer the pangs of conscience.
- Synonyms:
- sustain
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to undergo or experience (any action, process, or condition).
to suffer change.
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to tolerate or allow.
I do not suffer fools gladly.
verb
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to undergo or be subjected to (pain, punishment, etc)
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(tr) to undergo or experience (anything)
to suffer a change of management
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(intr) to be set at a disadvantage
this author suffers in translation
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to be prepared to endure (pain, death, etc)
he suffers for the cause of freedom
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archaic (tr) to permit (someone to do something)
suffer the little children to come unto me
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to be ill with, esp recurrently
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to be given to
he suffers from a tendency to exaggerate
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Usage
It is better to avoid using the words suffer and sufferer in relation to chronic illness or disability. They may be considered demeaning and disempowering. Suitable alternative are have , experience , be diagnosed with
Other Word Forms
- nonsufferable adjective
- nonsufferableness noun
- nonsufferably adverb
- outsuffer verb (used with object)
- presuffer verb
- sufferable adjective
- sufferableness noun
- sufferably adverb
- sufferer noun
- unsufferable adjective
- unsufferableness noun
- unsufferably adverb
Etymology
Origin of suffer
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English suff(e)ren, from Latin sufferre, from suf- suf- ( def. ) + ferre “to bring, carry”; compare Old French sofrir, from Vulgar Latin sufferīre (unrecorded); bear 1 ( def. ), -phore ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"We embrace a certain amount of discomfort and hardship and suffering."
From BBC
Dubai airport, the world's busiest for international traffic, and Jebel Ali seaport also suffered damage as the unprecedented attacks hit some of the city's major landmarks and revenue-earners.
From Barron's
Middle Eastern economies will likely suffer the most damage.
Lazizi Mara also asked for the case to proceed, saying it would give the camp a chance to reverse the reputational damage it had suffered amid online furor over the suit.
"We came here to support him, but the Congolese people are suffering. What we want is work," says Flora Kouka, a nurse.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
