deject

American  

[dih-jekt] / dɪˈdʒɛkt /

verb (used with object)

1. to depress the spirits of; dispirit; dishearten.

   Such news dejects me.

---

adjective

1. Archaic. dejected; downcast.

deject British  

/ dɪˈdʒɛkt /

verb

1. (tr) to have a depressing effect on; dispirit; dishearten

---

adjective

1. archaic downcast; dejected

Etymology

Origin of deject

1375–1425; late Middle English dejecten (v.) < Latin dējectus (past participle of dējicere to throw down), equivalent to dē- de- + -jec-, combining form of jacere to throw + -tus past participle suffix

Explanation

To deject is to make someone feel really, really sad. Few things will deject you more than losing your very favorite scarf — the one your grandmother knit — on the subway. This verb is rarely used these days, so you're most likely to find it in an old book— the adjective dejected is much more common. Both words come from the earlier verb dejecten, "to throw or cast down," from the Latin deicere, "to cast down, destroy, or defeat." The more figurative "make sad" meaning appeared around 1500. If you really want to deject someone, play them some melancholy music when they're already sad about their lost cat.

Example Sentences

This way they can get more skilled personnel and also effectively deject any missiles from Yemen.

From New York Times • Dec. 4, 2017

Yet better the excess Than the deject; better the more than less; Better like Hector in the field to die, Than like a perfumed Paris turn and fly.

From Time Magazine Archive

Beautifully 'a lady most deject and wretched,' she intones the bitter honeyed lines as if they were her own, and Ophelia's, not alone Shakespeare's.

From Time Magazine Archive

This did not dishearten or deject the golden party; far from it.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 5 by Motteux, Peter Anthony

Having these to look to, what should stagger our faith, or deject our hope?

From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by Bunyan, John

Related Words

• dishearten
• dispirit