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suffer - 6 dictionary results

suf⋅fer

[suhf-er]
–verb (used without object)
1. to undergo or feel pain or distress: The patient is still suffering.
2. to sustain injury, disadvantage, or loss: One's health suffers from overwork. The business suffers from lack of capital.
3. to undergo a penalty, as of death: The traitor was made to suffer on the gallows.
4. to endure pain, disability, death, etc., patiently or willingly.
–verb (used with object)
5. to undergo, be subjected to, or endure (pain, distress, injury, loss, or anything unpleasant): to suffer the pangs of conscience.
6. to undergo or experience (any action, process, or condition): to suffer change.
7. to tolerate or allow: I do not suffer fools gladly.

Origin:
1200–50; ME suff(e)ren < L sufferre, equiv. to suf- suf- + ferre to bear 1 ; cf. OF sofrir < VL *sufferīre


suf⋅fer⋅a⋅ble, adjective
suf⋅fer⋅a⋅ble⋅ness, noun
suf⋅fer⋅a⋅bly, adverb
suf⋅fer⋅er, noun


5. sustain. 7. stomach, stand, abide.
suf·fer   (sŭf'ər)   
v.   suf·fered, suf·fer·ing, suf·fers

v.   intr.
  1. To feel pain or distress; sustain loss, injury, harm, or punishment.
  2. To tolerate or endure evil, injury, pain, or death. See Synonyms at bear1.
  3. To appear at a disadvantage: "He suffers by comparison with his greater contemporary" (Albert C. Baugh).
v.   tr.
  1. To undergo or sustain (something painful, injurious, or unpleasant): "Ordinary men have always had to suffer the history their leaders were making" (Herbert J. Muller).
  2. To experience; undergo: suffer a change in staff.
  3. To endure or bear; stand: would not suffer fools.
  4. To permit; allow: "They were not suffered to aspire to so exalted a position as that of streetcar conductor" (Edmund S. Morgan).

[Middle English suffren, from Old French sufrir, from Vulgar Latin *sufferīre, from Latin sufferre : sub-, sub- + ferre, to carry; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots.]
suf'fer·er n., suf'fer·ing·ly adv.
Usage Note: In general usage the preferred preposition after suffer is from, rather than with, in constructions such as He suffered from hypertension. Ninety-four percent of the Usage Panel found suffered with unacceptable in the preceding example. In medical usage suffer with is sometimes employed with reference to the pain or discomfort caused by a condition, while suffer from is used more broadly in reference to a condition, such as anemia, that is detrimental but not necessarily painful.

Suffer

Suf"fer\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Suffered; p. pr. & vb. n. Suffering.] [OE. suffren, soffren, OF. sufrir, sofrir, F. souffrir, (assumed) LL. sofferire, for L. sufferre; sub under + ferre to bear, akin to E. bear. See Bear to support.]

1. To feel, or endure, with pain, annoyance, etc.; to submit to with distress or grief; to undergo; as, to suffer pain of body, or grief of mind.

2. To endure or undergo without sinking; to support; to sustain; to bear up under.

Our spirit and strength entire, Strongly to suffer and support our pains. --Milton.

3. To undergo; to be affected by; to sustain; to experience; as, most substances suffer a change when long exposed to air and moisture; to suffer loss or damage.

If your more ponderous and settled project May suffer alteration. --Shak.

4. To allow; to permit; not to forbid or hinder; to tolerate.

Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. --Lev. xix. 17.

I suffer them to enter and possess. --Milton.

Syn: To permit; bear; endure; support; sustain; allow; admit; tolerate. See Permit.

Suffer

Suf"fer\, v. i. 1. To feel or undergo pain of body or mind; to bear what is inconvenient; as, we suffer from pain, sickness, or sorrow; we suffer with anxiety.

O well for him whose will is strong! He suffers, but he will not suffer long. --Tennyson.

2. To undergo punishment; specifically, to undergo the penalty of death.

The father was first condemned to suffer upon a day appointed, and the son afterwards the day following. --Clarendon.

3. To be injured; to sustain loss or damage.

Public business suffers by private infirmities. --Sir W. Temple.
Language Translation for : suffer
Spanish: sufrir, padecer,
German: leiden,
Japanese: 苦しむ

suffer 
c.1225, "to undergo, endure" (pain, death, punishment, judgment, grief), from Anglo-Fr. suffrir, from O.Fr. sufrir, from V.L. *sufferire, variant of L. sufferre "to bear, undergo, endure, carry or put under," from sub "up, under" + ferre "to carry" (see infer). Replaced O.E. þolian, þrowian. Meaning "to tolerate, allow" is recorded from c.1290.
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