depressant
Americanadjective
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Medicine/Medical. having the quality of depressing or lowering the vital activities; sedative.
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causing a lowering in spirits; dejecting.
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causing a drop in value; economically depressing.
noun
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Medicine/Medical. a sedative.
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Chemistry. any agent capable of diminishing a specific property of a substance.
adjective
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med able to diminish or reduce nervous or functional activity
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causing gloom or dejection; depressing
noun
Etymology
Origin of depressant
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.
Economists have long pointed to the country’s years-long property slump as a major depressant of consumer sentiment, as real-estate makes up a significant portion of household balance sheets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
Bonjean also challenged Shapiro over her testimony that she knew the pill Cosby gave her was not a Quaalude, a depressant popular in the 1970s, because of the coding etched on it.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2022
Still, while many factors encouraged merger activity, one phenomenon that once drove deals — activist investors — became something of a depressant.
From New York Times ● Jan. 1, 2014
Dramatic reconstruction – also used in Antonia Bird's Hamburg Cell, a film about the hijackers themselves – served a purpose, but it could also be a gruelling depressant.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 30, 2010
Some doctors maintained that it would heal gout and the ague, act as a stimulant and appetite depressant, and counteract drunkenness.
From Medicine in Virginia, 1607-1699 by Thomas Proctor Hughes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
