Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Extremely contemptible or degrading: synonym: base.
- adjective Being of the most miserable kind; wretched.
- adjective Thoroughgoing; complete. Used to modify pejorative nouns.
- adjective Extremely submissive or self-abasing.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To throw away; cast off or out.
- To make abject; humiliate; degrade.
- Cast aside; cast away; abjected.
- Low in condition or in estimation; utterly humiliating or disheartening; so low as to be hopeless: as, abject poverty, disgrace, or servitude.
- Low in kind or character; mean; despicable; servile; groveling.
- Synonyms Abject, Low, Mean, Groveling, debased, despicable, degraded, degenerate, wretched, menial, worthless, beggarly. (See list under
low .) Abject, low, and mean may have essentially the same meaning, but low is more often used with respect to nature, condition, or rank; mean, to character or conduct; abject, to spirit. Groveling has the vividness of figurative use; it represents natural disposition toward what is low and base. Low is generally stronger than mean, conformably to the original senses of the two words. - noun A person who is abjectly base, servile, or dependent; a caitiff or menial.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase.
- adjective obsolete Cast down; low-lying.
- adjective Degraded; servile; groveling; despicable.
- adjective Sunk to a low condition; down in spirit or hope; miserable; -- of persons.
- adjective Humiliating; degrading; wretched; -- of situations.
- noun obsolete A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective showing humiliation or submissiveness
- adjective most unfortunate or miserable
- adjective of the most contemptible kind
- adjective showing utter resignation or hopelessness
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Segregation still exists in the media, in the movies and the TV shows, where the abject is absented, where there is the default and the deviant, the "normal" and the "abnormal".
A Sodomite's Sermon Hal Duncan 2009
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Segregation still exists in the media, in the movies and the TV shows, where the abject is absented, where there is the default and the deviant, the "normal" and the "abnormal".
Archive 2009-08-01 Hal Duncan 2009
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And the last thing they want is someone to get injured by what he referred to as abject stupidity, anybody coming out.
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No community, state or country is an island unto itself unless it wants to exist in abject horrific misery like North Korea.
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Huge portions of the population have lived in abject fear for the better part of a century that we are in immanent danger of instant takeover and domination.
Matthew Yglesias » 18th Century Polish Strategic Dilemmas 2010
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A true scientist should aim to finish life in abject loneliness and poverty.
Archive 2009-02-01 Gordon McCabe 2009
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But, even before Christmas, the lack of fresh vegetables caused scurvy to break out, and disappointed adventurer after disappointed adventurer took to his bunk in abject surrender to this culminating misfortune.
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Lt. It just has to say “hello” and everyone will run away in abject revulsion and terror.
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The dogs sat on their chairs in abject silence with Davis and his wife menacing them to remain silent, while, in front of the curtain, Dick and Daisy Bell delighted the matinee audience with their singing and dancing.
CHAPTER XXX 2010
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People in abject poverty are less happy than people who are modestly well-off, but people who are modestly well-off are not less happy than very rich people.
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Julia Kristeva defines the abject as a revolting betweenness, as “death infesting life.”
Housewife Demonology Jamie Hood 2024
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