rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryRoot: premere
Latin

premere

press

Forms

  • premere
  • press- — The changed form used for completed action and its derivatives.
  • -prim- — The vowel changed in some Latin compounds.

Origin

An inherited Latin verb with older Indo-European ancestry; the exact earliest reconstruction is uncertain.

Note

Physical pressure supplied a natural model for restraint, expression, and compression.

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noun

depression

dih-PRESH-uhn/dɪˈpreʃn/

A sustained lowering of mood or activity.

Her depression makes even familiar daily tasks feel unusually difficult.

The same adult appears in three small time-separated vignettes with persistent low mood and an untouched former hobby; successive blank calendar rows imply passing weeks.
Etymology
deLatindown, away; removal
+pressLatinpress
+ionLatinan action, process, or result

Pressing down supplies the image behind a sinking of the spirits. The word's established sense of sadness or dejection was later adopted as a clinical term for the mental health condition.

In context

Building Brain Awareness9:14
someone's dealing with a lot of depression or loss or grief or maybe they're going through a divorce
Confabulation With Brain Injury

More examples

  • A sense of depression settles over him after the move.
  • Treatment helps her manage her depression and enjoy life again.
  • Economic depressions often bring widespread unemployment and business closures.

Forms

depression · depressions

depress verb — To lower someone's mood or reduce activity.

depressive adjective — Relating to depression or its symptoms.

Similar words

sadness
Describes unhappiness without necessarily lasting long or impairing daily life.
despondency
Emphasizes deep discouragement and loss of hope, not economic decline.
recession
Names an economic decline generally less severe than a depression.