depress
Americanverb (used with object)
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depresses,
present (3rd person singular)
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depressed,
past participle, past
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depressing
present participle
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to make sad or gloomy; lower in spirits; deject; dispirit.
- Synonyms:
- sadden, discourage, dishearten
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to lower in force, vigor, activity, etc.; weaken; make dull.
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to lower in amount or value.
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to put into a lower position.
to depress the muzzle of a gun.
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to press down.
-
Music. to lower in pitch.
verb
-
to lower in spirits; make gloomy; deject
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to weaken or lower the force, vigour, or energy of
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to lower prices of (securities or a security market)
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to press or push down
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to lower the pitch of (a musical sound)
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obsolete to suppress or subjugate
Synonym Usage
See oppress.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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depressibilitynoun
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overdepressverb (used with object)
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depressibleadjective
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undepressibleadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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depresssimple
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depressessimple
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have depressedperfect
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has depressedperfect
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am depressingprogressive
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are depressingprogressive
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is depressingprogressive
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have been depressingperfect progressive
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has been depressingperfect progressive
Past
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depressedsimple
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had depressedperfect
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was depressingprogressive
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were depressingprogressive
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had been depressingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of depress
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English depressen, from Anglo-French, Old French depresser, from Latin dēpressus “pressed down” (past participle of dēprimere, equivalent to de- de- + -primere, combining form of premere “to press”); see pressure
Explanation
Depress means to lessen the activity or power of something. If you want to depress the spread of poverty, you need to find ways to slow it down, like by bringing education and skill-building resources into the poorest communities. The word depress comes from the Old French word depresser, meaning "put down by force." Depress can be used literally to describe something you push down, like when you depress the handle on a toaster to lower the bread. It can also describe a more figurative lowering, such as the lowering of a person's emotional state. Attending a funeral is likely to depress you, and watching a sad movie afterwards will just sink your spirits even more.
Vocabulary lists containing depress
Hatchet
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Conventional wisdom suggests such discouraging numbers would depress turnout.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026
Authors of books with Jewish or Israeli characters say their titles are “review bombed” with 1-star on sites like Goodreads to depress interest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
This could depress demand, buying the EU a little more time to wait for LNG flows to return to normal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
For those who have not been identified, negative feedback from adults and peers can further depress self-esteem.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
The office was already beginning to depress him.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
By funneling income and investment toward export industries and away from consumers, this depresses consumption and expands the current account surplus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
In the macro economy, uncertainty depresses economic activity, increases stock market volatility and reduces returns.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 27, 2026
“It is the duration of a shock, not its magnitude, that structurally depresses valuations,” he says.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
Jonny's prediction: It depresses me how good Sunderland are this season.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
Next is a man named Gonzalo, who is wearing blue work pants and a Bugs Bunny T-shirt that’s probably from the nineties, which depresses me like few things can.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
However, the forecast predicts that AI investment will begin to produce job gains next year and in 2028, even as the cuts have depressed California’s jobs picture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Mortgage rates surged to roughly a three-year high, a fresh setback for an already depressed housing market.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
The funny thing is, it doesn’t just make you depressed about plastic surgery and sad women and sleazy TV executives.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
PORTLAND, Ore.—The rental market here is so depressed that something almost unthinkable is now commonplace: Six-figure earners are paying some of the same rents as lower-income residents who qualify for subsidized housing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
She had a feeling that practically everyone in Japan was depressed.
From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata
For economists at Morgan Stanley, yuan weakness is a result of China’s new economic reality after the property-sector bust, depressing investment and consumer sentiment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
While higher borrowing costs typically help tackle inflation by depressing demand in an economy, observers argue it won't do much to blunt the impacts of the current oil supply shock.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
"I had a little bit of a shortage of time… it becomes very depressing," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
“Then on Friday, I typically work from home because nobody’s in the office, and it’s depressing when there’s nobody there.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
The stories on the TV news were just as depressing.
From "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
