depressive
Americanadjective
-
tending to cause depression.
depressive environmental factors.
-
characterized by depression, especially mental depression.
noun
adjective
-
tending to depress; causing depression
-
psychol tending to be subject to periods of depression See also manic-depressive
Other Word Forms
- depressively adverb
- depressiveness noun
- nondepressive adjective
- nondepressively adverb
- overdepressive adjective
- overdepressively adverb
- overdepressiveness noun
- postdepressive adjective
- undepressive adjective
- undepressively adverb
- undepressiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of depressive
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.
Roughly 15 percent of U.S. men aged 21 to 25 years reported experiencing a major depressive episode in 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026
"Education is becoming less protective against loneliness, memory decline, and depressive symptoms," Infurna said.
From Science Daily • Feb. 1, 2026
The initiative, dubbed the Party Line project, is the brainchild of Matter Neuroscience, a mental health startup focused on researching the science behind happiness and creating tools to battle major depressive disorders.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026
Old Hunter, an ex-police detective now working in private security, disturbs Chen’s depressive apathy with a request that he help find a man called X, a former philosophy professor who ran afoul of authorities.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
"I'll be depressive soon enough, but while you eat your candy just allow me to chew the rag; there's a kind of substance in it."
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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.
