Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use suffer in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Suffer means to undergo hardship. Example: “Many artists suffer before becoming famous.”

Examples of suffer by meaning

verbTo undergo hardship.

  • Many artists suffer before becoming famous.

verbTo feel pain.

  • At least he didn't suffer when he died in the car crash.

verbTo become worse.

  • If you keep partying like this, your school-work will suffer.
  • Our correspondent found that timekeeping had suffered following the substitution of Class 5 4-6-0s on these workings.1961 October, “Motive Power Miscellany: Scottish Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 638

verbTo endure, undergo.

  • I've been suffering your insults for years.
  • We hope you never have to suffer the same pain.
  • Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again.2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, archived from the original on 01 May 2024, page 68

verbTo allow.

  • "Employ" includes to suffer or permit to work.1938, The U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 203

More sentences with suffer

  • He drew comfort from the thought that he was not the first to suffer this way.From the entry draw
  • She suffered a terrible collapse after slipping on the wet floor.From the entry collapse
  • The airstrike suffered minimal casualties because electronic-warfare aircraft were jamming the enemy air-defense radars.From the entry jam
  • All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. — 2. Tim. iii. 12.From the entry godly
  • After so much stress, he suffered a breakdown and simply gave up.From the entry breakdown
  • The President's arrogation of this new Act oversteps his bounds and causes our rights to suffer.From the entry arrogation
  • He suffered acute intoxication from the combined effects of several drugs.From the entry intoxication
  • Many first-time flyers suffer from aerophobia, though some hide it better than others.From the entry aerophobia
  • The American Dream suffered a debilitating effect after the subprime crisis.From the entry debilitate
  • I used to suffer from depression, but now I'm mostly content with my life.From the entry depression
  • Poor children suffer permanent damage due to deplorable living conditions and deplorable treatment by law enforcement.From the entry deplorable
  • After the mutiny, the castaway ship's officers suffered a month at sea in the lifeboat.From the entry castaway
  • Venice is a place to avoid if you suffer from gephyrophobia.From the entry gephyrophobia
  • Ben suffers from hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, so he seldom uses words of more than three syllables.From the entry hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
  • Many people have suffered from colds, the sniffles and other childhood illnesses.From the entry sniffles
  • The loss the National Library suffered from the fire is incalculable.From the entry incalculable
  • Some residents of Alaska suffer from cabin fever when they remain indoors throughout the long, snowy winters.From the entry cabin fever
  • This beach suffers from a riptide that can easily sweep you out to sea.From the entry riptide
  • He blanked out the abuse he had suffered as a child.From the entry blank out
  • I know he suffered from depression, but surely he wouldn't go so far as to kill himself?From the entry go so far as
  • You may suffer a minor ache in your side.From the entry ache
  • The Fourth Army suffered such losses that its remainders were merged into the Second Army, also deployed on the Western front.From the entry army
  • I suffered under the intense drive of my new job.From the entry drive
  • The subjects suffered from lymphoblastic and myeloid leukemias.From the entry leukemia
  • The seatback should always be up while driving so that the occupant doesn't submarine and potentially suffer severe internal injury.From the entry submarine
  • The devil in me wants to let him suffer.From the entry devil
  • People would suffer disasters when society's morality degenerates.From the entry disaster
  • John suffered setbacks at his job. Equally, Frank's business slowed.From the entry equally
  • Just hours after leaving the institution, she suffered another tailspin.From the entry tailspin
  • The annual Muslim Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which is attended by millions of pilgrims, has increasingly suffered from stampedes.From the entry stampede
  • He suffered the indignity of being ignored.From the entry indignity
  • It was sad to put our beloved spaniel to sleep, but it was better than letting him suffer.From the entry put to sleep

Meaning of suffer

  1. verb To undergo hardship.
  2. verb To feel pain.
  3. verb To become worse.

Full definition of suffer

Questions about suffer in a sentence

How do you use suffer in a sentence?
Suffer is used as a verb. For example: “Many artists suffer before becoming famous.”
What is a short sentence with suffer?
“Many artists suffer before becoming famous.”
What does suffer mean?
Suffer means to undergo hardship.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: suffer (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use suffer in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/suffer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.