DEPRESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does depress mean? 

• DEPRESS (verb)
  The verb DEPRESS has 5 senses:

1. lower someone's spirits; make downhearted

2. lower (prices or markets)

3. cause to drop or sink

4. press down

5. lessen the activity or force of

  Familiarity information: DEPRESS used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEPRESS (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they depress    ... he / she / it depresses   
Past simple: depressed   
Past participle: depressed   
-ing form: depressing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lower someone's spirits; make downhearted

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

cast down; deject; demoralise; demoralize; depress; dismay; dispirit; get down

Context example:

The bad state of her child's health demoralizes her

Hypernyms (to "depress" is one way to...):

discourage (deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "depress"):

chill (depress or discourage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will depress him

Antonym:

elate (fill with high spirits; fill with optimism)

Derivation:

depressant (a drug that reduces excitability and calms a person)

depressant (capable of depressing physiological or psychological activity or response by a chemical agent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lower (prices or markets)

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

The glut of oil depressed gas prices

Hypernyms (to "depress" is one way to...):

bring down; get down; let down; lower; take down (move something or somebody to a lower position)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to drop or sink

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

depress; lower

Context example:

The lack of rain had depressed the water level in the reservoir

Hypernyms (to "depress" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

depressor (any skeletal muscle that draws a body part down)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Press down

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

depress; press down

Context example:

Depress the space key

Hypernyms (to "depress" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

depression (pushing down)

depressor (a device used by physician to press a part down or aside)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Lessen the activity or force of

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The rising inflation depressed the economy

Hypernyms (to "depress" is one way to...):

weaken (lessen the strength of)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

A state of profound unconsciousness associated with markedly depressed cerebral activity.

(Coma, NCI Thesaurus)

The determination of the amount of any drug that depresses the central nervous system (CNS) present in a sample.

(CNS Depressant Drug Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)

One person might have diarrhea and abdominal pain, while another person may be irritable or depressed.

(Celiac Disease, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

A profound state of unconsciousness associated with depressed cerebral activity from which the individual cannot be aroused.

(Coma, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Emotional, social, spiritual, or physical pain or suffering that may cause a person to feel sad, afraid, depressed, anxious, or lonely.

(Distress, NCI Dictionary)

Ethchlorvynol appears to depress the central nervous system by binding at a benzodiazepine-GABA-A-chloride ionophore receptor complex, located in the limbic, thalamic and hypothalamic regions of the central nervous system (CNS).

(Ethchlorvynol, NCI Thesaurus)

The person may become withdrawn, agitated, and depressed.

(Elder Abuse, NIH: National Institute on Aging)

Patients may not tell their doctors that they’re feeling depressed, so it’s a good idea for physicians to screen their patients proactively for depression and related conditions.

(Children with Cushing syndrome may have higher suicide risk, NIH)

But their heads were filled with knowledge that enabled them to talk her talk,—the thought depressed him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And yet for all his watchfulness he was never depressed.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)