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 ) ( 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.

Example Sentences

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 was instantly transformed into a gay excitation.

From The Roll-Call by Bennett, Arnold