What does depress mean?
Depress is a transitive verb with three main strands of meaning that all share one core idea: pressing down. Its most familiar use is emotional — to make someone feel sad, dispirited, or low in spirits, as when gloomy weather or bad news depresses a person. Its second use is physical: to press something down or push it into a lowered position, as in depressing a button, key, or lever. The third is economic and technical, where to depress something — demand, prices, trade, or a market — is to reduce its level or weaken its activity. The word carries no strong register restrictions: it appears equally in everyday conversation, formal writing, and technical prose. It derives from the Latin deprimere, meaning to press down, formed from de- ('down') and premere ('to press'), making it a direct sibling of words like compress, suppress, and oppress. Its derivatives — depression, depressing, depressive, and depressant — are among the most widely used terms in psychology and medicine.
To make someone feel unhappy, dispirited, or low in spirits.
"The bleak news of the factory closure deeply depressed the whole town."
To press something down or push it into a lower position.
"Depress the clutch fully before changing gear."
To reduce the level, activity, or strength of something, especially economic activity.
"Trade sanctions severely depressed the country's exports."
Depress literally means 'to press down' — and it's been pushing on English moods, buttons, and economies since Latin first lent it out.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of depress
Depress comes from the Latin verb deprimere, meaning 'to press down', formed from the prefix de- ('down') plus premere ('to press'). The word entered English via Old French in the late Middle Ages, initially carrying the literal sense of pressing or forcing downward before extending to emotional and economic lowering. It shares this Latin root with cognates such as compress, suppress, oppress, and repress.
Related word forms
How depress is actually used
In everyday speech, depress is most often used transitively with a person or mood as its object ("the news depressed him"). The related adjective "depressed" is very common both as an ordinary description of sadness and as a clinical term referring to depression as a medical condition; context usually makes clear which is meant. In economics and finance, the word is neutral and technical rather than emotive.
Easily confused with depress
Repress means to hold back or suppress feelings, desires, or memories, whereas depress means to sadden a person or to lower something physically or economically.
Suppress means to forcibly put an end to something or restrain it, while depress means to lower in spirits, position, or level.