suffer

B1 Topic:Health & Medicine

Also spelled sufferin

US /ˈsʌfɚ/ UK /ˈsʌfə/ See IPA manual

verb Freq #2085

Meanings

1

verb
To feel pain, distress, or hardship.

Many artists suffer before becoming famous.
2

verb
To be affected by an illness, injury, or problem.

They suffered only minor injuries in the accident.
3

verb
To become worse in quality.

His grades suffered as the holidays approached.
4

verb
To be regularly affected by an illness or weakness (suffer from).

She suffers from terrible headaches.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to feel pain, distress, or... bear

2 verb · to be affected by an... endure

3 verb · to become worse in quality. slip

More ache agonize anguish hurt pain passion thole throe wark wring

Opposites

luxuriate relax

Word family

Forms sufferedsuffers

Derived forms insufferable sufferable sufferance sufferer suffering unsufferable

Related forms agonized gnash groan moan scream scrunch shriek spasm squirmsublatesublation wince

Common collocations

Etymology

From Middle English suffren, from Anglo-Norman suffrir, from Latin sufferre (“to offer, hold up, bear, suffer”), from sub- (“up, under”) + ferō (“to carry”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”). Displaced native Old English þrōwian.

*bʰer- Proto-Indo-European suffren Middle English sofrir xno sufferō Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine

# suffer

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** ˈsʌfɚ
**IPA (UK):** ˈsʌfə
**Frequency rank:** 2085

## Meanings
1. To feel pain, distress, or hardship.
2. To be affected by an illness, injury, or problem.
3. To become worse in quality.
4. To be regularly affected by an illness or weakness (suffer from).

## Examples
- Many artists suffer before becoming famous.
- They suffered only minor injuries in the accident.
- His grades suffered as the holidays approached.
- She suffers from terrible headaches.

## Synonyms
- ache
- agonize
- anguish
- hurt
- pain
- passion
- thole
- throe
- wark
- wring

## Antonyms
- luxuriate
- relax

## Derived Forms
- insufferable
- sufferable
- sufferance
- sufferer
- suffering
- unsufferable

## Related Forms
- agonized
- gnash
- groan
- moan
- scream
- scrunch
- shriek
- spasm
- squirm
- sublate
- sublation
- wince

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *bʰer-
- Root: suffren
- Root: sofrir
- Root: sufferō

## Etymology
From Middle English suffren, from Anglo-Norman suffrir, from Latin sufferre (“to offer, hold up, bear, suffer”), from sub- (“up, under”) + ferō (“to carry”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”). Displaced native Old English þrōwian.

## AI Etymology
Suffer is from Middle English suffren, from Anglo-Norman suffrir, from Latin sufferre (“to offer, hold up, bear, suffer”), from sub- (“up, under”) + ferō (“to carry”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”). Displaced native Old English þrōwian. In present-day use, it can mean to feel pain, distress, or hardship, or to be affected by an illness, injury, or problem.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine

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