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suffer

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To suffer is to undergo or endure something that is very unpleasant. (verb)

When a person gets cancer, this is an example of a situation where a person suffers from cancer.
When your grades become worse because you don't study, this is an example of a situation where your grades suffer.
When you are willing to cope with your friend being mean to you, this is an example of a situation where you suffer the unkindness of a friend.

See suffer in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb

to undergo (something painful or unpleasant, as injury, grief, a loss, etc.); be afflicted with
to undergo or experience (any process, esp. change)
to allow; permit; tolerate
to bear up under; endure: now chiefly in negative constructions: they could not suffer opposition

intransitive verb

to experience pain, harm, loss, a penalty, etc.
to be at a disadvantage: my grades suffer by comparison with yours
Archaic to tolerate or endure evil, injury, etc.

Related Forms:

sufferer noun

See suffer in American Heritage Dictionary 4

suf·fer

verb suf·fered, suffering suf·fer·ing, suf·fers

verb, intransitive

To feel pain or distress; sustain loss, injury, harm, or punishment.
To tolerate or endure evil, injury, pain, or death. See Synonyms at bear¹.
To appear at a disadvantage: “He suffers by comparison with his greater contemporary” (Albert C. Baugh).

verb, transitive

To undergo or sustain (something painful, injurious, or unpleasant): “Ordinary men have always had to suffer the history their leaders were making” (Herbert J. Muller).
To experience; undergo: suffer a change in staff.
To endure or bear; stand: would not suffer fools.
To permit; allow: “They were not suffered to aspire to so exalted a position as that of streetcar conductor” (Edmund S. Morgan).

Origin: Middle English suffren, from Old French sufrir, from Vulgar Latin *sufferīre, from Latin sufferre : sub-, sub- + ferre, to carry; see bher-¹ in Indo-European roots.

Related Forms:

sufferer sufˈfer·er noun

sufˈfer·ing·ly adverb

Usage Note: In general usage the preferred preposition after suffer is from, rather than with, in constructions such as He suffered from hypertension. Ninety-four percent of the Usage Panel found suffered with unacceptable in the preceding example. In medical usage suffer with is sometimes employed with reference to the pain or discomfort caused by a condition, while suffer from is used more broadly in reference to a condition, such as anemia, that is detrimental but not necessarily painful.

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