Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Tending to depress or lower.
  • adjective Depressing; gloomy.
  • adjective Of or relating to psychological depression.
  • noun A person suffering from psychological depression.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Able or tending to depress or cast down.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Able or tending to depress or cast down.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Tending to produce depression; dispiriting; melancholy.
  • adjective Being depressed; dispirited; melancholic.
  • noun A person suffering from depression.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone suffering psychological depression

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French dépressif or medieval Latin depressivus

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Examples

  • This chapter is devoted to a discussion of the specific set of behaviors and feelings that make up what we call the depressive syndrome.

    Control Your Depression Peter M. Lewinsohn 1986

  • Ladislav von Meduna started seizure therapy by intravenous injection of cardiazol (in depressive states), a therapy that was abandoned when in 1938 the Italians Cerletti and Bini introduced electric convulsive therapy, E.C.T., for severe mental states.

    Controversial Psychosurgery Resulted in a Nobel Prize 1998

  • Nolen-Hoeksema’s research clearly shows that this kind of thinking—which she calls depressive rumination—quickly deteriorates into a vicious downward spiral that exacerbates the severity and length of depression.

    The Time Paradox Philip Zimbardo 2008

  • Nolen-Hoeksema’s research clearly shows that this kind of thinking—which she calls depressive rumination—quickly deteriorates into a vicious downward spiral that exacerbates the severity and length of depression.

    The Time Paradox Philip Zimbardo 2008

  • Nolen-Hoeksema’s research clearly shows that this kind of thinking—which she calls depressive rumination—quickly deteriorates into a vicious downward spiral that exacerbates the severity and length of depression.

    The Time Paradox Philip Zimbardo 2008

  • Nolen-Hoeksema’s research clearly shows that this kind of thinking—which she calls depressive rumination—quickly deteriorates into a vicious downward spiral that exacerbates the severity and length of depression.

    The Time Paradox Philip Zimbardo 2008

  • I suppose I've made some personal progress in admitting openly that I am depressive, which is to say I have not been formally diagnosed as such, but I suspect I could be.

    Fathers Day joshenglish 2008

  • The depressive ... but the depressive is the very opposite of the hollow man!

    The depressive Adam Roberts Project 2007

  • The depressive ... but the depressive is the very opposite of the hollow man!

    Archive 2007-04-01 Adam Roberts Project 2007

  • I could never be described as a depressive person, but I seem to be doing a good impression of it this season.

    The dark half of the year. slimmeroftheyea 2006

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