suffer something vs suffer from something (2025)

Hello,

The Quote below is an example from Ofxord Dictionaries. Off the bat it looked wrong as I was not used to seeing suffer without from but I had to go to my dictionaries. Based on what I understand, the lack of from after suffer below means it is not a long-standing problem. Is that right?

• ‘Much of the country is suffering severe lack of water, and the small quantities supplied are not good for human use.’

elroy said:

There isn’t really a difference.

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Thanks elroy,

My understanding was influenced by the underlined examples from Merriam-Webster’s Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. I missed the red one, which ruined the perceived "rule"!

suf·fer /ˈsʌfɚ/ verb -fers; -fered; -fer·ing

1

: to experience pain, illness, or injury [no obj]
▪Before the surgery it was clear that she was really suffering. [=was in pain] ▪He died instantly and did not suffer. - often + from ▪She suffers from arthritis. ▪This patient is clearly suffering from shock

.

[+ obj]
▪

He suffered a heart attack and died instantly. ▪She suffered an injury during the game

.

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However, I got a better understanding studying the entry from Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary. I think the quoted example in the first post means they are experiencing a bad thing (= having a problem), in contrast to experiencing physical pain, for example, due to sickness or medical disorder.

EXPERIENCE
2. <I > intransitive or transitive to experience or show the effects of something bad
• The Democrats suffered a crushing defeat in the last election.
• Twenty-five policemen suffered minor injuries during the protest.
• The city suffered another blow last month with the closure of the local car factory.
• If you will insist on eating three helpings of dessert, I'm afraid you'll have to suffer the consequences!
• + object + -ing verb I had to suffer her father moaning for half an hour on the phone last night!
• When you're working such long hours, it's inevitable that your marriage will start to suffer.
• Like a lot of his films, it suffers from being a bit too long.

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"‘Much of the country is suffering severe lack of water, and the small quantities supplied are not good for human use.’"
is almost the same as:
"‘Much of the country is experiencing severe lack of water, and the small quantities supplied are not good for human use.’"

The writer could have written the following with a a [slightly] different meaning: (cause and effect)
"‘Much of the country is suffering from severe lack of water. Diseases are breaking out out...’"

Hello AntiScam,

I’m wondering about the same thing now. I looked up different dictionaries and the difference between 'suffer' and 'suffer from' confused me. They seemed the same in sentence examples but I always felt there was a slight difference between them.

After studying them carefully I’ve come to an explanation: when we use 'suffer' alone, it means 'experience' or 'feel', and it can be followed by:
(1) mental or physics pain; (2) a bad situation.

Thus, it’s ok to say:
(1) I’m suffering a back pain. = I’m experiencing a back pain.
(2) The country is suffering an economic decline. = The country is experiencing an economic decline.

However, when we add 'from' after 'suffer', it is used to introduce the very reason why we suffer. The object of 'suffer' is invisible, but it’s still 'pain' or something like that:
(1) I’m suffering from a back pain. = I’m suffering [a lot of pain] from a back pain.
(2) The country is suffering from an economic decline. = The country is suffering [the bad results] from an economic decline.

So in the end 'suffer' and 'suffer from' are slightly different in meanings. Do you think so?

There may be a BE/AE difference here. I'd say The country is suffering from a severe lack of water.
It's suffer from with illnesses. He suffers from arthritis.
It's suffer when anything unpleasant happens. He suffered a heart attack. They suffered a series of defeats.

There's a degree of overlap. I'd say We've suffered enough from his bullying. His bullying has caused us enough unpleasantness. But you could say We've suffered his bullying long enough. In the second sentence there's an idea of tolerating something unpleasant for period of time. The difference isn't great.

I think Wangyijie's on the right track. Welcome to the forum, Wangyijie. I don't think you'd say I'm suffering a back pain. You'd say I suffer from back pain - a general pain all the time. You could perhaps say I'm suffering from a back pain. But I'm not sure if it sounds completely natural to me. I agree with Wangyijie's sentences about economic decline:
...suffering an... You're just saying it's happening.
...suffer from an... There's slightly more emphasis on the hardships people are having to put up with.