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suffer

 - 4 dictionary results

suf⋅fer

  [suhf-er]
Use suffer in a Sentence
–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

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

Synonyms:
5. sustain. 7. stomach, stand, abide.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To suffer
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

suffer

see not suffer fools gladly.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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