Word Direct Answers

What does "suffer" mean?

Suffer: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.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.
  2. 3.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.
  3. 4.I suffer them to enter and possess. Milton. See Permit.
  4. 5.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.
  5. 6.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.
  6. 7.To be injured; to sustain loss or damage. Public business suffers by private infirmities. Sir W. Temple.

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