depression
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈpɹɛʃn̩/
ipa: /dəˈpɹɛʃn̩/
rhymes: -ɛʃən
Forms: form: depressions
Etymology: From Middle English depression, depressioun, from Old French depression, from Latin dēpressiō. Equivalent to depress + -ion.
Senses: examples: text: I used to suffer from depression, but now I'm mostly content with my life.
text: It is that Mr. Levi's death could not be dissociated from the major depression with which he was afflicted, and that indeed his suicide proceeded directly from that illness.
ref: 1988 December 19, William Styron, “Why Primo Levi Need Not Have Died”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
topics: human-sciences
psychology
sciences
synonyms: word: despondency
word: hopelessness
word: misery
word: blueness
word: mirthless
word: blues
word: crestfallenness
word: dejection
word: depression
word: despondency
word: distress
word: dolefulness
word: downheartedness
word: drearihead
word: forlornness
word: grief
word: heartsore
word: ill-being
word: infelicity
word: melancholia
word: melancholy
word: misery
word: mishappiness
word: mourn
word: prosternation
word: regret
word: rue
word: ruth
word: sadness
word: sorrow
word: sorrowfulness
word: tristfulness
word: undelight
word: unhappiness
word: woe
word: woefare
word: wretchedness
glosses: A state of mind producing serious, long-term lowering of enjoyment of life or inability to visualize a happy future; any of several mental disorders with this state of mind as a central feature.
examples: text: […] your illness reflects the textbook description of bipolar disorder (euphoric, grandiose, manic highs followed by deep depressions,[…]
ref: 2011 February 28, David J. Miklowitz, The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide, Second Edition: What You and Your Family Need to Know, Guilford Press, →ISBN, page 106:
text: His first major breakdown occurred when his son was five years old; he continued to go to pieces periodically, with a particularly deep depression that lasted from the time Bill was in sixth grade until the time he finished junior high[…]
ref: 2014 September 16, Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas Of Depression, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 73:
text: Many alcoholics who die from suicide suffer from deep depressions that are quite frequently protracted,[…]
ref: 2016 January 14, Danuta Wasserman, Suicide: An unnecessary death, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:
topics: human-sciences
psychology
sciences
glosses: A period of low morale or unhappiness (a period of experiencing the above-mentioned state of mind) which lasts longer than several weeks and may include ideation of self-inflicted injury or suicide.
examples: text: It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
text: These large [mazes] led to smaller ones which were constructed to hold in the hand, usually in the form of a circular tray. In these a marble was contained which had to be manipulated to roll into a depression in the centre.
ref: 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 151:
topics: geography
natural-sciences
glosses: An area that is lower in topography than its surroundings.
topics: climatology
meteorology
natural-sciences
glosses: An area of lowered air pressure that generally brings moist weather, sometimes promoting hurricanes and tornadoes.
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: A period of major economic contraction.
examples: text: The Great Depression was the worst financial event in US history.
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: Four consecutive quarters of negative, real GDP growth. See NBER.
examples: text: Depression of the lever starts the machine.
glosses: The act of lowering or pressing something down.
topics: biology
medicine
natural-sciences
physiology
sciences
glosses: A lowering, in particular a reduction in a particular biological variable or the function of an organ, in contrast to elevation.
Derived terms: angle of depression
anti-depression
antidepression
anxiodepression
anxio-depression
cardiodepression
clinical depression
cryptodepression
depressional
depressionary
depressionism
depressionist
depressionless
depressionlike
dextrodepression
double depression
freezing-point depression
immunodepression
inbreeding depression
infranasal depression
laevodepression
manic-depression
manic depression
microdepression
neurodepression
nondepression
phagodepression
post-con depression
postdepression
postnatal depression
post-natal depression
postpartum depression
post-partum depression
pre-depression
pseudodepression
retarded depression
seasonal depression
social depression
summer depression
tropical depression
Trumpression
undepression
vasodepression
winter depression
Related terms: depress
depressant
depressed
depressing
depressive
downturn