dejection

American  

[dih-jek-shuhn] / dɪˈdʒɛk ʃən /

noun

1. depression or lowness of spirits.

   Antonyms:

   exhilaration

2. Medicine/Medical, Physiology.

   1. evacuation of the bowels; fecal discharge.

   2. excrement.

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dejection British  

/ dɪˈdʒɛkʃən /

noun

1. lowness of spirits; depression; melancholy

2. 1. faecal matter evacuated from the bowels; excrement

   2. the act of defecating; defecation

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Other Word Forms

• self-dejection noun
• superdejection noun

Etymology

Origin of dejection

1400–50; late Middle English deieccioun < Latin dējectiōn- (stem of dējectiō ) a throwing down, equivalent to dēject ( us ) ( deject ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

But Mr. Markovits’s writing is restrained and plainspoken, and it draws us in with the fidelity by which it inhabits Tom’s dejection.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

An hour or so ago, he finished last in the Electric Truck A-Main race, but he wore no dejection on his face.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2025

“I woke up with a big smile on my face today, feeling very loved by all of you,” he wrote on a carousel of photos showing his postrace dejection.

From Seattle Times • May 27, 2024

Rangers' Todd Cantwell, meanwhile, has been in Glasgow less than a year but has had to swallow plenty of derby dejection.

From BBC • Dec. 29, 2023

Almost two hundred tired, gaunt, downcast men stood holding their parachute packs in a somber and unstirring crowd outside the briefing room, their faces staring blankly in different angles of stunned dejection.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller