depressed; depressing; depresses
2
a
: to press down
depress the backspace 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
Translation professionals are losing their jobs to AI AI tools have reduced the amount of work available to human translators and interpreters, and depressed their earnings.
—
Alexandra Banner, CNN Money, 23 Jan. 2026
If the starter works normally, but the car does not start after three attempts, try depressing the gas pedal.
—Cailey Gleeson, jsonline.com, 23 Jan. 2026
That leaves the question of making the 17e value for money while also not depressing potential iPhone 17 sales.
—Ewan Spence, Forbes.com, 16 Jan. 2026
The issue became a pressing concern every time China turned to its proven tactics of either restricting the supply or turned to dumping extra critical minerals on the market to depress prices and drive any potential competitors out of business.
—Didi Tang, Fortune, 15 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for depress
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Alexandra Banner, CNN Money, 23 Jan. 2026
If the starter works normally, but the car does not start after three attempts, try depressing the gas pedal.
—Cailey Gleeson, jsonline.com, 23 Jan. 2026
That leaves the question of making the 17e value for money while also not depressing potential iPhone 17 sales.
—Ewan Spence, Forbes.com, 16 Jan. 2026
The issue became a pressing concern every time China turned to its proven tactics of either restricting the supply or turned to dumping extra critical minerals on the market to depress prices and drive any potential competitors out of business.
—Didi Tang, Fortune, 15 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for depress
Cite this Entry
“Depress.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/depress. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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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