dejection
Americannoun
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depression or lowness of spirits.
- Antonyms:
- exhilaration
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Medicine/Medical, Physiology.
-
evacuation of the bowels; fecal discharge.
-
noun
-
lowness of spirits; depression; melancholy
-
-
faecal matter evacuated from the bowels; excrement
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the act of defecating; defecation
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of dejection
1400–50; late Middle English deieccioun < Latin dējectiōn- (stem of dējectiō ) a throwing down, equivalent to dēject ( us ) ( see deject) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Someone overcoming the loss of a loved one might be in a state of dejection or depression for some time. It's all part of the grieving process. Dejection comes from the Latin deicere meaning "throw down." When you're in a state of dejection, your emotions are really thrown down in the dumps. Dejection is also a fancy word for the solid excretory product your bowels release, or in other words: poop. Regardless of which definition you're using, it's safe to say that when it comes to your well-being, dejection is just not something you want to hang onto.
Vocabulary lists containing dejection
The Great Gatsby
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The Mysterious Benedict Society
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"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dejection is no stranger – Falah has at times broken into tears.
From The Guardian • Sep. 23, 2020
Dejection aside, he knows where his bread is buttered.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 17, 2015
For Coleridge, clouds were emblems of freedom, as in his ode to France—"Ye Clouds! that far above me float and pause,/ Whose pathless march no mortal may control!"—or of poetic consciousness, as in "Dejection."
From Slate • Feb. 2, 2011
Dejection turned to elation when a camera trap placed by one of the Gobi A reserve rangers near the spring where the release had been made showed that Naran had attracted four females.
From National Geographic
Dejection and alarm vanished under his eloquence, and at the conclusion of his address every man seemed to say, "Let us march against the enemy!"
From History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia by Campbell, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
