Depression Meaning
/dɪˈpɹɛʃən/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA state of mind producing serious, long-term lowering of enjoyment of life or inability to visualize a happy future; any of several mental disorders with this state of mind as a central feature.
nounA period of low morale or unhappiness (a period of experiencing the above-mentioned state of mind) which lasts longer than several weeks and may include ideation of self-inflicted injury or suicide.
Sentence Examples
The report states that there will be a depression.
The economist anticipated a prolonged depression.
She was diagnosed as having clinical depression.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The Great ____ caused widespread unemployment and factory closures.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The report states that there will be a ____.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English depression, depressioun, from Old French depression, from Latin dēpressiō. Equivalent to depress + -ion.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"It is that Mr. Levi's death could not be dissociated from the major depression with which he was afflicted, and that indeed his suicide proceeded directly from that illness."
— 1988 December 19, William Styron, “Why Primo Levi Need Not Have Died”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"[…] your illness reflects the textbook description of bipolar disorder (euphoric, grandiose, manic highs followed by deep depressions,[…]"
— 2011 February 28, David J. Miklowitz, The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide, Second Edition: What You and Your Family Need to Know, Guilford Press, →ISBN, page 106:
"His first major breakdown occurred when his son was five years old; he continued to go to pieces periodically, with a particularly deep depression that lasted from the time Bill was in sixth grade until the time he finished junior high[…]"
— 2014 September 16, Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas Of Depression, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 73:
"Many alcoholics who die from suicide suffer from deep depressions that are quite frequently protracted,[…]"
— 2016 January 14, Danuta Wasserman, Suicide: An unnecessary death, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:
"It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by."
— 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The Great ____ caused widespread unemployment and factory closures.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The report states that there will be a ____.