deject

[dih-jekt]

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verb (used with object)

to depress the spirits of; dispirit; dishearten: Such news dejects me.

adjective

Archaic. dejected; downcast.

RELATED WORDS

dishearten, dispirit, discourage

Nearby words

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for deject

I must deject you now and make you listen to me; there is not much more to hear.
Look Back on Happiness|Knut Hamsun
This did not dishearten or deject the golden party; far from it.
Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete.|Francois Rabelais
For one, the worst event of this day, though it may deject, shall not break or subdue me.
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. III. (of 12)|Edmund Burke
The things which do not disturb her temper may, perhaps, deject her spirits.
A Strange Story, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton

And I alone, of all men “most deject and wretched,” survive them all.
The Life of Florence Nightingale vol. 1 of 2|Edward Tyas Cook

British Dictionary definitions for deject

deject

verb

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

adjective

archaic downcast; dejected

Word Origin for deject

C15: from Latin dēicere to cast down, from de- + iacere to throw

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for deject

deject

early 15c., "to throw or cast down," from Old French dejeter (12c.), from Latin deiectus "a throwing down, felling, fall," past participle of deicere "to cast down, destroy; drive out; kill, slay, defeat," from de- "down" + -icere, comb. form of iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). Originally literal; the sense of "depress in spirit" is c.1500.