depressing

adjective

de·​press·​ing di-ˈpre-siŋ 

dē-

: that depresses

especially : causing emotional depression

a depressing story

depressingly

di-ˈpre-siŋ-lē 

dē-

adverb

Synonyms

• black
• bleak
• cheerless
• chill
• Cimmerian
• cloudy
• cold
• comfortless
• dark
• darkening
• depressive
• desolate
• dire
• disconsolate
• dismal
• drear
• dreary
• dreich [chiefly Scottish]
• elegiac
• elegiacal
• forlorn
• funereal
• gloomy
• glum
• godforsaken
• gray
• grey
• lonely
• lonesome
• lugubrious
• miserable
• morbid
• morose
• murky
• plutonian
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• solemn
• somber
• sombre
• sullen
• sunless
• tenebrific
• tenebrous
• wretched

Examples of depressing in a Sentence

This rainy weather is depressing.

He paints a depressing picture of modern life.

Recent Examples on the Web

Two of the movies feature both Adams and Julianne Moore, and what’s really depressing is that such a phenomenal pairing got wasted on hapless material. —Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024

And seeing even a preview of that was so depressing for me. —Okla Jones, Essence, 4 Dec. 2024

The violence that surged in 2015 and continued at a high rate for nine years was horrifying, tragic and depressing. —Dan Rodricks, Baltimore Sun, 22 Nov. 2024

Thanks for following along. jen chaney Updated Nov. 5, 2024, 11:20 PM EST In all seriousness, this is depressing as hell Kornacki has been sharing a lot of percentage points and weird names of counties in the Midwest — Winnebago? — for the past five-plus hours. —Jen Chaney, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1629, in the meaning defined above