abject

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English

Pronunciation

  • (attributive): Lua error in Module:parameters at line 291: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈæb.d͡ʒɛkt/, enPR: 'ăbjĕkt
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 291: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /æbˈd͡ʒɛkt/, enPR: ăbʹjĕkt
  • Rhymes: -ɛkt
  • Audio (UK):(file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English abiect (“outcast, wretched”), from Latin abiectus, past participle of abiciō (“to throw away, cast off, to reject”), from ab- (“away”) +‎ iaciō (“to throw”)[1].

Adjective

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

  1. (obsolete) Rejected; cast aside. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the early 17th century.][2]
  2. Sunk to or existing in a low condition, state, or position. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][2]
  3. Cast down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; grovelling; despicable; lacking courage; offered in a humble and often ingratiating spirit. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][2]
    • 1710, Joseph Addison, Whig Examiner, number 5:
      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;
    • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second:
      Lord Howard of Escrick accused Ayloffe of proposing to assassinate the Duke of York; but Lord Howard was an abject liar;
    • 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]:
      And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams.
    • 1931, Faulkner, Sanctuary, section II:
      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.
  4. Showing utter hopelessness, helplessness; showing resignation; wretched. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][2]
Usage notes
  • Nouns to which "abject" is often applied: poverty, fear, terror, submission, misery, failure, state, condition, apology, humility, servitude, manner, coward.
Synonyms
Related terms

Template:rel-mid

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

abject (plural abjects)

  1. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway; outcast. [from late 15h c.][2]
    • 1830, Walter Scott, “Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy”, in The Doom of Devorgoil, a Melo-drama; Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Company; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 309:
      Hear ye the serf I bred, begin to reckon / Upon his rights and pleasure! Who am I— / Thou abject, who am I, whose will thou thwartest?
    • 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening:
      Shall these abjects—these victims—these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure?
    • c. 1591-1594, Shakespeare, Richard III, Act I, Scene I:
      We are the queen's abjects, and must obey.
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English abjecten, derived from the adjective form.[3]

Verb

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

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To cast off or out; to reject. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17th century.][2]
    • 2001, Jana Evans Braziel, Kathleen LeBesco (editors), Bodies out of bounds: fatness and transgression, page 141:
      Rather than abjecting her own fat body, the Ipecac-taking fat girl is abjecting diet culture.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To cast down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17th century.][2]
    (Can we find and add a quotation of John Donne to this entry?)
Related terms

Template:rel-mid

Translations

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 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.
  3. ^ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 4

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French abject, from Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

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

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

French

Etymology

From Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

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

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

Derived terms

Further reading

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