abject
[ab-jekt, ab-jekt]
- utterly hopeless, miserable, humiliating, or wretched: abject poverty.
- contemptible; despicable; base-spirited: an abject coward.
- shamelessly servile; slavish.
- Obsolete. cast aside.
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Origin of abject
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin abjectus thrown down (past participle of abicere, abjicere), equivalent to ab- ab- + -jec- throw + -tus past participle suffix
Synonyms
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
wretchedbasecontemptibledegradeddejecteddeplorabledishonorablefawningforlorngrovelinghangdoghumiliatedlowmiserableoutcastservilesubmissiveworthlesspitiableExamples from the Web for abject
Contemporary Examples
Those facts, Paul said, indicated that Chairman Mao was a tyrannical monster whose people lived “in abject slavery.”
The girls helped their mothers prepare a simple meal as the men smoked outside and reflected on their abject state.
But in any narrative, if the protagonist is going to be at the center of a sea of abject joy and triumph, someone has to lose.
Featuring headache-inducing black-and-red graphics, the Virtual Boy was an abject failure.
No, this brief delay must be a sign that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act is destined to result in abject failure.
Historical Examples
Since their meeting the young man had been her abject cavalier.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Better live, to write your own tale than be the abject one to another.
To all outward seeming, nerveless, emotionless, an abject creature.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
"Don't you say one word," she answered, with an air of abject confession.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
It was a sad sight—that abject hopeless misery I saw this afternoon.
Ranald Bannerman's BoyhoodGeorge MacDonald
abject
- utterly wretched or hopeless
- miserable; forlorn; dejected
- indicating humiliation; submissivean abject apology
- contemptible; despicable; servilean abject liar
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Word Origin
C14: (in the sense: rejected, cast out): from Latin abjectus thrown or cast away, from abjicere, from ab- away + jacere to throw
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for abject
adj.
early 15c., "cast off, rejected," from Latin abiectus, past participle of abicere "to throw away, cast off; degrade, humble, lower," from ab- "away, off" (see ab-) + iacere "to throw" (past participle iactus; see jet (v.)). Figurative sense of "downcast, brought low" first attested 1510s. Related: Abjectly; abjectness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper