clinical depression

noun

: a serious mood disorder involving one or more episodes of intense psychological depression or loss of interest or pleasure that lasts two or more weeks and is accompanied by irritability, fatigue, poor concentration, sleep disturbances, weight gain or loss, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and sometimes suicidal tendencies : major depression, major depressive disorder

Mild depression is a normal condition, a sadness brought on by life's circumstances. Clinical depression, on the other hand, is a sadness so deep that it can lead to suicide if left untreated.

—Brenda Lane Richardson

Examples of clinical depression in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The research, presented June 18 at the Psychedelic Science 2025 conference in Denver, followed up with patients who had been diagnosed with clinical depression — also known as major depressive disorder (MDD) — and had participated in a previous psilocybin treatment study in 2020. —Khloe Quill, FOXNews.com, 24 June 2025

The first time Jade spoke publicly about her mental health was in 2016, when her testimony about her clinical depression diagnosis at First Baptist Church in Glenarden, Md., went viral. —Makena Gera, People.com, 28 Apr. 2025

Curcumin has potential as a stand-alone treatment and as an add-on to traditional medications for adults with clinical depression. —Lauren O'Connor, Health, 2 July 2025

One study found that clinical depression among young people was up 60% from 2017 to 2021, which critics attribute partly to rising social media use. —Charlotte Alter, Time, 18 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for clinical depression

• immunosuppression
• myelosuppression
• accession
• aggression
• compression
• concession
• confession
• digression
• discretion
• expression
• impression
• obsession

Medical Definition

clinical depression

noun

: a serious mood disorder involving one or more episodes of intense psychological depression or loss of interest or pleasure that lasts two or more weeks and is accompanied by irritability, fatigue, poor concentration, sleep disturbances, weight gain or loss, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and sometimes suicidal tendencies : major depression, major depressive disorder

Cases of clinical depression present doctors with a nasty diagnostic challenge: The malady, which strikes about 10% of the population, comes in myriad forms, each requiring different treatments.

—Science