depress

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English depressen, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French depresser, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin depressus, perfect participle of dēprimō (“to press down”), from de (“down”) + premere (“to press”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈpɹɛs/
• Rhymes: -ɛs

Verb

2. To press down.

   Depress the upper lever to start the machine.

3. To make depressed, sad or bored.

   Winter depresses me.

4. To cause a depression or a decrease in parts of the economy.

   Lower productivity will eventually depress wages.

5. To bring down or humble; to abase (pride, etc.).
6. (mathematics) To reduce (an equation) in a lower degree.

Synonyms

• downbear

Related terms

• depressant
• depression
• depressive

Translations

to press down on

• Bulgarian: натискам (bg) (natiskam)
• Finnish: painaa alas
• French: appuyer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: לחץ (he) (lakhátz)
• Ido: depresar (io)
• Portuguese: pressionar (pt)
• Slovak: stlačiť

to make depressed, sad or bored

• Bulgarian: гнетя (bg) (gnetja), потискам (bg) (potiskam)
• Catalan: deprimir (ca)
• Czech: deprimovat
• Dutch: deprimeren (nl)
• Finnish: masentaa (fi), ahdistaa (fi)
• German: deprimieren (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: דיכא (diké')
• Ido: depresar (io)
• Maori: rāwakiwaki, whakapōuri
• Portuguese: deprimir (pt)
• Slovak: deprimovať
• Spanish: deprimir (es)

to cause a depression or a decrease in parts of the economy

• Finnish: laskea (fi), alentaa (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: depresar (io)

Further reading

• “depress”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “depress”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• pressed, spersed