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.
For example, some results suggested that vitamin D might help reduce depressive symptoms in teens, but the findings were not consistent.
From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026
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
"Taken together, these results may have important implications for the management of major depressive disorder," says Ciara Halvorson, a neuroscience PhD student at UVic and the study's first author.
From Science Daily • Feb. 2, 2026
He said he also has since found solace in Reddit, where he said users shared their experiences with manic and depressive episodes.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2026
The added depressive effect of the organic phosphate may then be enough to precipitate acute symptoms.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
