abject

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English[edit]

WOTD – 10 April 2022

Etymology 1[edit]

PIE word
*h₂epó

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English abiect, abject (“expelled, outcast, rejected, wretched”, adjective) [and other forms],[1] from Middle French abject (“worthy of utmost contempt or disgust, despicable, vile; of a person: brought low, cast down; of low social position”) (modern French abject, abjet (obsolete)), and from its etymon Latin abiectus (“abandoned; cast or thrown aside; dejected, downcast; ordinary, undistinguished, unimportant; (by extension) base, sordid; despicable, vile; humble, low; subservient”), an adjective use of the perfect passive participle of abiciō (“to discard, throw away or down; to cast or push away or aside; to abandon, give up; to belittle, degrade, humble; to lower, reduce; to overthrow, vanquish; to undervalue; to waste”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away; away from; from’) + iaciō (“to cast, hurl, throw, throw away”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw”)).[2][3]

The noun is derived from the adjective.[2]

cognates

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abject (comparative abjecter or more abject, superlative abjectest or most abject)

  1. Existing in or sunk to a low condition, position, or state; contemptible, despicable, miserable. [from early 15th c.]
    Synonyms: degraded, (archaic) demiss, ignoble, mean, vile, wretched, worthless
    Antonym: unabject
    • 1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] Payne Collier, editor, Pierce Penniless’s Supplication to the Devil. […], London: […] [Frederic Shoberl, Jun.] for the Shakespeare Society, 1842, →OCLC, page 22:
      These whelpes of the first lytter of gentilitie, these exhalations, drawen vp to the heauen of honour from the dunghill of abiect fortune, haue long been on horsebacke to come riding to your diuellship; but, I know not how, lyke Saint George, they are alwaies mounted but neuer moue.
    • 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Twelfth Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC, pages 206–207:
      VVhen as thoſe fallovv Deere, and huge-hancht Stags that graz'd / Vpon her ſhaggy Heaths, the paſſenger amaz'd / To ſee their mighty Heards, vvith high-palmd heads to threat / The vvoods of o'regrovvne Oakes; as though they meant to ſet / Their hornes to th'others heights. / But novv, both thoſe and theſe / Are by vile gaine deuour'd: So abiect are our daies.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, lines 305–313:
      [W]ith fierce Winds Orion arm'd / Hath vext the Red-Sea Coaſt, whoſe waves orethrew / Buſiris and his Memphian Chivalrie, / While with perfidious hatred they purſu'd / The Sojourners of Goſhen, who beheld / From the ſafe ſhore their floating Carkaſes / And broken Chariot Wheels, ſo thick beſtrown / Abject and loſt lay theſe, covering the Flood, / Under amazement of their hideous change.
    • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 18, lines 168–170:
      By hovv much from the top of vvondrous glory, / Strongeſt of mortal men, / To lovveſt pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n.
    • 1751 December (indicated as 1752), Henry Fielding, “Containing Matters that Require No Preface”, in Amelia, volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC, book V, page 129:
      Do you think, my dear Mrs. James, if the Tables had been turned, if my Fortune had been as high in the World as yours, and you in my Diſtreſs and abject Condition, that I would not have climbed as high as the Monument to viſit you?
    • 1840 January, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “[Robert] Lord Clive. […]”, in Critical and Historical Essays, Contributed to the Edinburgh Review. […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 119:
      The wide dominion of the Franks was severed into a thousand pieces. Nothing more than a nominal dignity was left to the abject heirs of an illustrious name, Charles the Bald, and Charles the Fat, and Charles the Simple.
    • 2020 September 23, Ed Caesar, “The FinCEN Files Shed New Light on a Scandalous Episode at Deutsche Bank”, in The New Yorker‎[1], New York, N.Y.: New Yorker Magazine Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 March 2022:
      Meanwhile, nearly fifty million dollars were also funnelled through mirror trades to the Khanani network, whose clients include associates of Hezbollah and the Taliban. Deutsche Bank’s reputation was abject even before the mirror-trades scandal broke.
  2. (by extension)
    1. (chiefly with a negative connotation) Complete; downright; utter.
      Synonyms: out-and-out, unmitigated; see also Thesaurus:total
      abject failure   abject nonsense   abject terror
    2. (rare) Lower than nearby areas; low-lying.
  3. Of a person: cast down in hope or spirit; showing utter helplessness, hopelessness, or resignation; also, grovelling; ingratiating; servile. [from mid 14th c.]
    Synonyms: beggarly, cringing, slavish
    Antonym: unabject
    • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 209, column 2:
      Oh Noble Lord, bethinke thee of thy birth, / Call home thy ancient thoughts from baniſhment, / And baniſh hence theſe abiect lovvlie dreames: […]
    • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 137, column 2:
      O that I vvere a God, to ſhoot forth Thunder / Vpon theſe paltry, ſeruile, abiect Drudges: / Small things make baſe men proud.
    • 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The Second Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC, section 7, pages 149–150:
      [T]hoſe common and quotidian infirmities that ſo neceſſarily attend me, and doe ſeeme to be my very nature, have ſo dejected me, ſo broken the eſtimation that I ſhould have othervviſe of my ſelf, that I repute my ſelfe the moſt abjecteſt piece of mortality: […]
    • 1710 October 23 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Whig-Examiner: No. 5. Thursday, October 12. [1710.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 352:
      Honeſt men who tell their Sovereigns what they expect from them, and what obedience they ſhall be always ready to pay them, are not upon an equal foot with ſuch baſe and abject flatterers; and are therefore always in danger of being the laſt in the Royal favour.
    • 1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Dr. Lewis”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, page 160:
      Indeed, I know nothing ſo abject as the behaviour of a man canvaſſing for a ſeat in parliament— […]
    • 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 202:
      To ſtrike any perſon, even in the moſt abject condition, was a thing in a manner unknown, and would be highly diſgraceful.
    • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 405:
      Every rich and goodnatured lord was pestered by authors with a mendicancy so importunate, and a flattery so abject, as may in our time seem incredible.
    • 1927, Countee Cullen, “From the Dark Tower”, in Copper Sun, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, part 1 (Color); republished in James Weldon Johnson, editor, The Book of American Negro Poetry […], revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1931, →OCLC, page 228:
      We shall not always plant while others reap / The golden increment of bursting fruit, / Not always countenance, abject and mute / That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; […]
    • 1931 February 9, William Faulkner, chapter II, in Sanctuary (The Modern Library of the World’s Best Books; no. 61), New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, published 1962, →OCLC, page 12:
      Benbow watched Goodwin seat the old man in a chair, where he sat obediently with that tentative and abject eagerness of a man who has but one pleasure left and whom the world can reach only through one sense, for he was both blind and deaf: a short man with a bald skull and a round, full-fleshed, rosy face in which his cataracted eyes looked like two clots of phlegm.
  4. (sociology, usually nominalized) Marginalized as deviant.
    • 2007, Sean Brayton, “MTV's Jackass: Transgression, Abjection and the Economy of White Masculinity”, in Journal of Gender Studies, volume 16, page 59:
      The abject can easily be grafted onto the immigrant body, which is often conceived as something to be excluded in order to preserve a coherent yet racist national imaginary.
    • 2009, W. C. Harris, Queer Externalities: Hazardous Encounters in American Culture, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 98:
      The disclosure of tolerance's hidden phobic lining fits in well with queer theory's embrace of the abject.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
complete; downright; utter — see complete
lower than nearby areas — see low-lying
grovelling; ingratiating; servile — see servile
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun[edit]

abject (plural abjects)

  1. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; an oppressed person; an outcast; also, such people as a class. [from early 16th c.]
    Synonyms: (rare) heanling, wretch
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Late Middle English abjecten (“to cast out, expel”) [and other forms],[4] from abiect, abject (adjective) (see etymology 1).[5]

Sense 3 (“of a fungus: to give off (spores or sporidia)”) is modelled after German abschleudern (“to give off forcefully”).[5]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

abject (third-person singular simple present abjects, present participle abjecting, simple past and past participle abjected) (transitive, chiefly archaic)

  1. To cast off or out (someone or something); to reject, especially as contemptible or inferior. [from 15th c.]
    • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Elizabeth Queene of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 104, page 848, column 1:
      […] Dauid durſt not touch Saul, though he vvas abiected by God.
    • 2001, Le’a Kent, “Fighting Abjection: Representing Fat Women”, in Jana Evans Braziel, Kathleen LeBesco, editors, Bodies out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, →ISBN, part I (Revaluing Corpulence, Redefining Fat Subjectivities), page 141:
      Rather than abjecting her own fat body, the Ipecac-taking fat girl is abjecting diet culture.
  2. To cast down (someone or something); to abase; to debase; to degrade; to lower; also, to forcibly impose obedience or servitude upon (someone); to subjugate. [from 15th c.]
    • a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon IX. Preached on Candlemas Day.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 182:
      What phrases of abjecting themselves, in respect of the prince, can exceed David's humble expressing of himself to Saul?
  3. (mycology) Of a fungus: to (forcibly) give off (spores or sporidia).
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to cast down (someone or something) — see abase,‎ degrade
to forcibly impose obedience or servitude upon — see subjugate

References[edit]

  1. ^ “abject, ppl.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “abject, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021
  3. ^ “abject, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “abjecten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Compare “abject, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.

Further reading[edit]

  • Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 4
  • Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 3
  • Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abject”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 5.

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French abject, from Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abject (comparative abjecter, superlative abjectst)

  1. reprehensible, despicable, abject
    Het is teleologisch, infaam en het is abject.
    It is teleological, scandalous and it is reprehensible.

Inflection[edit]

Declension of abject
uninflected abject
inflected abjecte
comparative abjecter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial abject abjecter het abjectst
het abjectste
indefinite m./f. sing. abjecte abjectere abjectste
n. sing. abject abjecter abjectste
plural abjecte abjectere abjectste
definite abjecte abjectere abjectste
partitive abjects abjecters —

Derived terms[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abject (feminine abjecte, masculine plural abjects, feminine plural abjectes)

  1. (literary) Worthy of utmost contempt or disgust; vile; despicable
  2. (literary, obsolete) of the lowest social position

Usage notes[edit]

  • Abject lacks the idea of groveling, of moral degradation over time that is present in the English word.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • → German: abjekt
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: abjekt
  • → Romanian: abject

Further reading[edit]

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French abject, from Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abject m or n (feminine singular abjectă, masculine plural abjecți, feminine and neuter plural abjecte)

  1. abject

Declension[edit]

Declension of abject
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/
accusative 		indefinite abject abjectă abjecți abjecte
definite abjectul abjecta abjecții abjectele
genitive/
dative 		indefinite abject abjecte abjecți abjecte
definite abjectului abjectei abjecților abjectelor
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