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Definition of depress verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

depress

verb
 
/dɪˈpres/
 
/dɪˈpres/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they depress
 
/dɪˈpres/
 
/dɪˈpres/
he / she / it depresses
 
/dɪˈpresɪz/
 
/dɪˈpresɪz/
past simple depressed
 
/dɪˈprest/
 
/dɪˈprest/
past participle depressed
 
/dɪˈprest/
 
/dɪˈprest/
-ing form depressing
 
/dɪˈpresɪŋ/
 
/dɪˈpresɪŋ/
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  1. to make somebody sad and without enthusiasm or hope
    • depress somebody Wet weather always depresses me.
    • What depresses me most is that I never see you.
    • it depresses somebody to do something It depresses me to see how much she's changed.
  2. depress something to make trade, business, etc. less active
    • The recession has depressed the housing market.
  3. depress something to make the value of prices or wages lower
    • to depress wages/prices
  4. depress something (formal) to press or push something down, especially part of a machine
    • to depress the clutch pedal (= when driving)
    Topics Engineeringc2
  5. Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French depresser, from late Latin depressare, frequentative of deprimere ‘press down’.
See depress in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee depress in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
trait
noun
 
 
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