- de|pres|sion
- de|pres|sion «dih PREHSH uhn», noun.1. the act of pressing down; lowering or sinking: »
A rapid depression of the mercury in a barometer usually indicates the approach of a storm.
2. a depressed condition: »The barometer showed a depression. The heavy weight of snow caused a depression of the shed's roof.
4. a) low spirits; sadness or gloominess: »Failure usually brings on a feeling of depression. These warm and sunny days completely cured the boy's depression.
SYNONYM(S): dejection, melancholy. b) Psychology. a mental disorder characterized by prolonged feelings of despair and dejection, often accompanied by fatigue, headaches, and other physical symptoms: »Depression is the most widespread of all psychiatric disorders.
5. a) a lowering of business activity, usually for an extensive period of time, generally affecting national income and much of industrial and agricultural production; dullness of trade: »Many men lost their jobs during the depression of the 1930's. Here were cycles of industrial prosperity which always collapsed into industrial depressions (Edmund Wilson).
b) the Great Depression of 1929 - 1930s: »Depression-era families short on cash but long on dreams (The New York Times).
6. Medicine. a lowering of the vital functions or powers, as by relaxing muscle tissue or depressing activity.7. Astronomy. the angular distance of a star, planet, or other heavenly body below the horizon.8. Surveying. the angular distance of an object below the horizontal plane through the point of observation.9. Meteorology. an area of low barometric pressure; low.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
