ˈsəfə(r) verb
( suffered ; suffered ; suffering -f(ə)riŋ ; suffers )
Etymology: Middle English soffren, suffren, sufferen, from Old French soffrir, souffrir, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin sufferire, from Latin sufferre to bear up, endure, suffer, from sub- up + ferre to bear — more at sub- , bear
transitive verb
1. : to submit to or be forced to endure the infliction, imposition, or penalty of : bear as a victim
suffer martyrdom
suffer a year's imprisonment
: to be subjected to physical or mental pain because of : endure with distress
suffer thirst
suffer insults
: to feel keenly or acutely
suffer pain of body
suffer grief of mind
: labor under
the greatest handicap which our side suffers in entering the political conference — Willson Woodside
2. : to go or pass through (as harm or loss) : undergo
most or all genes suffer mutational changes from time to time — Theodosius Dobzhansky
: experience
the company suffered a 35 drop in sales the first quarter V — Wall Street Journal
: sustain
records that had suffered damage during storage
3. : to endure or undergo without sinking : have power to resist or sustain : to bear up under : support
suffer through half an hour of standing in line for the sake of a five-minute ride
— used chiefly in negative statements
shrubs that cannot suffer a cold winter
never able to suffer the slightest pain
4.
a. : not to forbid or hinder : allow , permit
in later years suffered his beard to grow long — K.W.Colgrove
b. : to put up with : tolerate
too proud of its revolutionary tradition to suffer dictatorship gladly — W.L.Burn
5. chiefly dialect : to cause pain or suffering to
intransitive verb
1. : to submit to or endure death, affliction, penalty, or pain or distress
contracted rheumatoid arthritis and suffered intensely
make him suffer for his mistake
sometimes : to endure such willingly or patiently
martyrs who suffered for Christ's sake
2. : to be the one acted upon as distinguished from the one acting
matter cannot act — it can only suffer
3. : to sustain loss or damage
business suffers greatly from a long-continued depression
4.
a. : to be in a state of disability (as from ill health, anxiety, error) : be subject to something disabling
too many of them suffer from nervous or heart disabilities — H.W.Baldwin
suffers from the fallacy of supposing that everyone feels as he does
b. : to be at a disadvantage : labor under a handicap
for years the school had suffered from lack of funds — American Guide Series: Michigan
the story suffers by comparison with the shorter ones — Louise Anderson
the men … suffered from no lack of self-esteem — Van Wyck Brooks
Synonyms: see bear , experience , let