What does “suffer” mean?
- 1
verbto feel pain, illness, or sadness
She suffers from headaches.
- 2
verbto experience something bad, like a loss or damage
The team suffered a heavy defeat.
Suffer at a glance
- Part of speech
- verb
- CEFR level
- B1 (intermediate)
- Pronunciation
- /ˈsʌfər/ · SUF-er
How to use “suffer” correctly
Use “suffer from” for illnesses: “He suffers from asthma.”
Common phrases with “suffer”
- suffer from
- suffer a loss
- suffer damage
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Word family
- suffering
- sufferer
“suffer” is on these word lists
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