Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Brought low in condition or status. See Synonyms at mean2.
- adj. Being of the most contemptible kind: abject cowardice.
- adj. Being of the most miserable kind; wretched: abject poverty.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Cast aside; cast away; abjected.
- Low in condition or in estimation; utterly humiliating or disheartening; so low as to be hopeless: as, abject poverty, disgrace, or servitude.
- Low in kind or character; mean; despicable; servile; groveling.
- Synonyms Abject, Low, Mean, Groveling, debased, despicable, degraded, degenerate, wretched, menial, worthless, beggarly. (See list under low.) Abject, low, and mean may have essentially the same meaning, but low is more often used with respect to nature, condition, or rank; mean, to character or conduct; abject, to spirit. Groveling has the vividness of figurative use; it represents natural disposition toward what is low and base. Low is generally stronger than mean, conformably to the original senses of the two words.
- n. A person who is abjectly base, servile, or dependent; a caitiff or menial.
- To throw away; cast off or out.
- To make abject; humiliate; degrade.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. obsolete Cast down; low-lying.
- adj. Degraded; servile; groveling; despicable.
- adj. Sunk to a low condition; down in spirit or hope; miserable; -- of persons.
- adj. Humiliating; degrading; wretched; -- of situations.
- v. obsolete To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase.
- n. obsolete A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. showing humiliation or submissiveness
- adj. most unfortunate or miserable
- adj. of the most contemptible kind
- adj. showing utter resignation or hopelessness
Etymologies
- From Middle English abjecten, derived from the adjective form. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, outcast, from Latin abiectus, past participle of abicere, to cast away : ab-, from; see ab-1 + iacere, to throw; see yē- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Segregation still exists in the media, in the movies and the TV shows, where the abject is absented, where there is the default and the deviant, the "normal" and the "abnormal".”
“And the last thing they want is someone to get injured by what he referred to as abject stupidity, anybody coming out.”
“A true scientist should aim to finish life in abject loneliness and poverty.”
“But, even before Christmas, the lack of fresh vegetables caused scurvy to break out, and disappointed adventurer after disappointed adventurer took to his bunk in abject surrender to this culminating misfortune.”
“The dogs sat on their chairs in abject silence with Davis and his wife menacing them to remain silent, while, in front of the curtain, Dick and Daisy Bell delighted the matinee audience with their singing and dancing.”
“People in abject poverty are less happy than people who are modestly well-off, but people who are modestly well-off are not less happy than very rich people.”
“Huge portions of the population have lived in abject fear for the better part of a century that we are in immanent danger of instant takeover and domination.”
“No community, state or country is an island unto itself unless it wants to exist in abject horrific misery like North Korea.”
“Lt. It just has to say “hello” and everyone will run away in abject revulsion and terror.”
“All that matters with the abject is that which by which it is marked out for abjection.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘abject’.
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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Rare Words - A
Not just rare words, but thousands of RARE WORDS WITH DEFINITIONS.
If you want to see the definitions, too, go to
http://phrontistery.i...aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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A to abominator (Chambers)
aa gets over 40 hits
aardvark 49 hits
abbatoir 103 hits
abjure 138 hitsA, A-line, A-list, A-lister, A 1, A-road, A-side, from A to B, from A to Z, A-bomb, A-effect, A level and 254 more...
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phrontistery - a
from phrontistery.info
axilla, avalement, argil, argent, argand, arete, aretaics, areometer, areology, arenoid, arenaceous, arefy and 1214 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 567 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
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FUN - Jeeves and Wooster - Jeeves
"Jeevesisms" as heard from the valet Jeeves in P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves and Wooster" stories.
abject, attire, boudoir, be agog to learn, breach of peace, companionship of ..., contract an engag..., correct orifice, determined temper..., edifice, endeavor to ascer..., expatiate and 46 more...
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People are Scum
words that one may enjoy using to describe other people or their actions
degenerate, reprobate, scapegrace, capricious, sycophant, arbitrary, infernal, abominable, iniquitous, nefarious, philistine, sadistic and 39 more...
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See list under
Being a list of words which have the phrase "see list under" somewhere in their definitions.
Also, further proof that the folks who put together the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia w...aggravate, exaggerate, abash, affliction, ponder, abject, dolorous, spelt, See list under, diabolic, apathy
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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James Hervey
embolden, cumbrous, dissolution, alacrity, cockatrice, abject, resistless, diminution, herbage, augment, similitude
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Heart of Darkness
words collected reading Heart of Darkness
abject, tenebrous, obsequiously, precipice, craven, candour, sepulchral, languid
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5000 FREE SAT Words
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 229 more...
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toefl 28
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
Tweets
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