Definition

1. Noun:
   • A state of low mood and aversion to activity: A mental state characterized by persistent sadness, hopelessness, and a lack of interest or pleasure in activities.
   • A period of severe economic decline: A long-term economic state marked by high unemployment, low prices, and reduced trade and investment.
   • A sunken or hollowed area: A concavity or indentation in a surface or landform.
   • The act of pressing down: The action of pushing something down.
   • A lowering of atmospheric pressure: An area where the atmospheric pressure is lower than the surrounding area, often associated with cloudy, rainy, or snowy weather.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Mental State):
  • She sought therapy for her clinical depression.
  • A feeling of depression overwhelmed him after the loss.
• Noun (Economic State):
  • The Great Depression of the 1930s was a global crisis.
  • The country feared sliding into another economic depression.
• Noun (Physical Hollow):
  • Water collected in the depression in the road.
  • The fossil was found in a small depression in the rock.
• Noun (Act of Pressing):
  • A quick depression of the lever starts the machine.
• Noun (Weather):
  • The weather forecast predicts a deep depression moving in from the west.

Advanced Usage

• "in a depression": Experiencing a state of severe economic downturn or low mood.
  • The entire region was in a depression for nearly a decade.
  • He has been in a depression since the accident.
• "sink into depression": To gradually enter a state of deep sadness or economic decline.
  • Without support, she began to sink into depression.
  • The market seemed to sink into a depression.

Variants and Related Words

• Depress (verb): To make someone feel sad or to push something down.
  • The news depressed the entire team.
  • Depress the clutch pedal to change gears.
• Depressive (adjective/noun): Relating to or suffering from depression.
  • He experienced a depressive episode.
• Depressed (adjective): Feeling very unhappy, or describing an area that is lower than its surroundings.
  • She felt depressed and lonely.
  • The depressed region of the land formed a valley.

Synonyms

• Despondency: A state of low spirits caused by loss of hope or courage.
• Recession: A period of temporary economic decline.
• Hollow: A hole or dip in a surface.
• Melancholy: A feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.

Related Phrases

• Clinical depression: A severe form of depression that requires medical diagnosis and treatment.
  • He was diagnosed with clinical depression.
• Manic depression: An older term for bipolar disorder, characterized by alternating periods of depression and mania.
  • The artist's manic depression influenced his work.

Related Idioms

• The winter blues: A colloquial term for feeling sad or depressed during the winter months, often related to seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
  • I always get the winter blues when the days get shorter.

Noun

1. pushing down
   • depression of the space bar on the typewriter
2. angular distance below the horizon (especially of a celestial object)
3. a concavity in a surface produced by pressing
   • he left the impression of his fingers in the soft mud
4. a state of depression and anhedonia so severe as to require clinical intervention
5. an air mass of lower pressure; often brings precipitation
   • a low moved in over night bringing sleet and snow
6. a period during the 1930s when there was a worldwide economic depression and mass unemployment
7. sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy
8. a sunken or depressed geological formation
9. a long-term economic state characterized by unemployment and low prices and low levels of trade and investment
10. a mental state characterized by a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondent lack of activity