suffer

suffer — verb

1. to feel pain or discomfort in your body, or to feel unhappiness, sadness, or emo

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA2
Definition

to feel pain or discomfort in your body, or to feel unhappiness, sadness, or emotional distress.

Example

Tamás suffered a lot after the accident and needed months to recover.

intransitive: suffer without an object

Eve suffers from terrible headaches whenever the air pressure drops suddenly.

suffer from + [condition]

Common collocations
  • suffer terribly
  • suffer greatly
  • suffer from a disease
  • suffer an injury
  • suffer in silence
Synonyms
  • endure

    more formal; emphasizes continuing through pain over time

  • experience

    neutral, much weaker; does not imply pain

  • undergo

    more formal; often used for medical procedures

Antonyms
  • recover

    to get better after suffering

  • thrive

    opposite of suffering; to grow and do well

Grammar Patterns

suffer + from + [condition/disease]

suffer + [injury/illness/event]

suffer (intransitive — no object)

Usage Note

Intransitive use ('She is suffering') typically describes the person's general state. To name the specific cause, use 'suffer from + [disease/condition]' (for ongoing conditions) or 'suffer + [specific injury/event]' (for a one-time medical episode).

Common Mistakes

He suffered from a heart attack last night.
He suffered a heart attack last night.
'suffer from' is used for ongoing conditions, not sudden one-time medical events.
I suffered a cold for two weeks.
I suffered from a cold for two weeks.
For illnesses that last a period of time, use 'suffer from'.

2. to experience damage, loss, defeat, or a difficult situation caused by something

2.verbtransitive / intransitiveB1
Definition

to experience damage, loss, defeat, or a difficult situation caused by something, so that a person, group, or thing becomes worse off than before.

Example

The company suffered heavy losses after the stock market fell sharply.

transitive: suffer + [financial loss]

Olivia's schoolwork suffered when she had to take care of her sick mother alone.

intransitive: something becomes worse

Common collocations
  • suffer a loss
  • suffer damage
  • suffer a defeat
  • suffer a setback
  • suffer a decline
Synonyms
  • sustain

    more formal; used for damage, loss, or injury in official reports

  • experience

    neutral; does not emphasize the negative impact

  • undergo

    suggests a process or change, not necessarily bad

Antonyms
  • gain

    to get something positive instead of losing it

  • benefit

    to receive an advantage, opposite of being negatively affected

Grammar Patterns

suffer + [loss/damage/defeat/noun of negative outcome]

suffer (intransitive — no object, meaning 'become worse')

Usage Note

In this sense the subject is often an organization, a city, a machine, or a non-personal thing. When used transitively, the object is typically a noun that names a negative outcome (loss, damage, decline, defeat) — NOT a physical injury or disease (that belongs to sense 1).

Common Mistakes

The company suffered from huge losses.
The company suffered huge losses.
When naming the specific damage/loss directly, do not add 'from'. 'Suffer from' is for ongoing conditions and diseases.
My phone suffered damage when it fell.
My phone was damaged when it fell.
'Suffer' sounds too dramatic for everyday objects; use simpler verbs.
Idioms

not suffer fools gladly

idiom

to have no patience or tolerance for people you consider stupid or foolish.

The new manager is very strict and does not suffer fools gladly in meetings.

Professor Okonkwo never suffered fools gladly and expected all students to prepare well before class.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Suffer is the strongest of these words and always carries the idea of pain, hardship, or loss. Endure emphasises continuing through difficulty over time — you can endure something without visibly suffering (endure a long speech), but suffering implies real pain. Undergo is more neutral and often used for medical procedures or life changes: someone undergoes surgery but does not necessarily suffer from it. Experience is the broadest and most neutral word — it can describe anything that happens to you, both good and bad. Tolerate means to allow something unpleasant to continue without resisting, often by choice: you tolerate a noisy neighbour, but you suffer from a chronic illness.

suffer ↗endure ↗undergo ↗experience ↗tolerate ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • suffer in silence
  • suffer the consequences
  • suffer the effects

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Suffer comes from the Latin word 'sufferre', which was made by joining 'sub-' (meaning 'from below' or 'up from under') and 'ferre' (meaning 'to carry, bear'). So the original picture was 'to carry something up from below' — to bear a heavy load. This became 'to bear pain or hardship' in Latin, then passed into Old French as 'soffrir', and finally into English as 'suffer'.