depressed; depressing; depresses
2
a
: to press down
depress a typewriter key
b
: to cause to sink to a lower position
3
: to lessen the activity or strength of
drugs that may depress the appetite
4
: sadden, discourage
don't let the news depress you
5
: to decrease the market value or marketability of
Examples of depress in a Sentence
The news seemed to depress him a little.
I don't mean to depress you, but there's no way we can win.
We were all depressed by the loss.
You shouldn't let this kind of problem depress you.
These changes could depress the economy.
Market conditions are likely to depress earnings in the next quarter.
depressing the price of a stock
Slowly depress the car's brake pedal.
Depress the “shift” key on your keyboard.
The doctor will depress your tongue and look at your throat.
Recent Examples on the Web
Even so, there’s something depressing about the way Mickey 17 invites us to chuckle knowingly at these cartoon evildoers.
—
Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 7 Mar. 2025
Less frequent and destructive attacks depressed Russian oil product exports by 10% last year, according to a Reuters analysis.
—David Axe, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025
This would stop companies from artificially depressing their financial state to justify rate increases, the lawmakers said.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 12 Feb. 2025
But the pandemic halted this gravy train: ESPN has cited sources saying that the league lost more than $1 billion in the 2019–20 season, which depressed the salary cap in the following years.
—Jordan Sargent, The Atlantic, 6 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for depress
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Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 7 Mar. 2025
Less frequent and destructive attacks depressed Russian oil product exports by 10% last year, according to a Reuters analysis.
—David Axe, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025
This would stop companies from artificially depressing their financial state to justify rate increases, the lawmakers said.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 12 Feb. 2025
But the pandemic halted this gravy train: ESPN has cited sources saying that the league lost more than $1 billion in the 2019–20 season, which depressed the salary cap in the following years.
—Jordan Sargent, The Atlantic, 6 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for depress
Cite this Entry
“Depress.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/depress. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
depress
verb
de·press
di-ˈpres 
1
a
: to press down
b
: to cause to sink to a lower position
2
: to lessen the activity or strength of
3
: sadden, discourage
4
: to lessen in price or value : depreciate
depressingly
adverb
-iŋ-lē
Medical Definition
depress
transitive verb
de·press
di-ˈpres
1
: to diminish the activity, strength, or yield of
able to depress irritability of the heart muscle by the use of such a drug as procaine
2
: to lower in spirit or mood
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