Introduction Intrusive thoughts may cause a significant level of distress, since some individuals evaluate the content of those thoughts as aversive. Suppression of intrusive thoughts is one of the strategies adopted by these individuals, which increases the level of distress. Suppression of thoughts may be present as one of the factors that maintain different psychological disorders. Objective To describe the translation and adaptation into Brazilian Portuguese of the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI), which measures thought suppression. Methods Three translations and back-translations were conducted by independent evaluators. Semantic equivalence was assessed and the three versions were evaluated to produce a synthesized version. Comments from participants on the preliminary version of the questionnaire were examined. Results We developed a preliminary Brazilian Portuguese version of the WBSI. It was found that most participants understood the descriptions of cognitions given in the translated questionnaire. Conclusion The use of three different versions of translations and back-translations, discussion of the synthetic version and interaction with the target population have conferred viability to the process of semantic equivalence of the Brazilian Portuguese final version of the WBSI.