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English[]

Etymology[]

From Latin abiectus, past participle of abicere (to reject), formed from ab- + iacere (to throw).

Pronunciation[]

  • enPR: ăbʹjĕkt, IPA: /ˈæbdʒɛkt/, SAMPA: /"{bdZEkt/ or enPR: ăbʹjĭkt, IPA: /ˈæbdʒɪkt/, SAMPA: /"{bdZIkt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛkt
  • noicon
    (file)

Adjective[]

Abject (comparative er, superlative more)

Positive
Abject

Comparative
er

Superlative
more

  1. Sunk to a low condition; down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; grovelling; despicable; as, abject posture, fortune, thoughts.
    "Base and abject flatterers." - Joseph Addison
    "An abject liar." - Thomas Babington Macaulay
    "And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams." - Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, I-ii
    "He sat obediently with that tentative and abject eagerness of a man who has but one pleasure left and whom the world can reach only through one sense, for he was both blind and deaf." - 1931 Faulkner, Sanctuary, ii
  2. (obsolete) Cast down; rejected; low-lying.
    "So thick bestrown abject and lost lay these, covering the flood." - John Milton

Synonyms[]

  • beggarly, contemptible, cringing, degraded, groveling, ignoble, mean, mean-spirited, slavish, vile, worthless

Related terms[]

Translations[]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
  • Bulgarian: низък, долен, жалък
  • Vietnamese: hèn hạ, thấp hèn, đê tiện, đáng khinh, khốn khổ, khốn nạn

Noun[]

Singular
Abject

Plural
{{{1}}}

Abject ({{{1}}})

  1. (obsolete) A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway.
    Shall these abjects, these victims, these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure?- Isaac Taylor
    We are the queen's abjects, and must obey. - W. Shakespeare [Richard III, Act I, Scene I]

Translations[]

Verb[]

Infinitive
to Abject

Third person singular
-

Simple past
-

Past participle
-

Present participle
-

to Abject (third-person singular simple present -, present participle -, simple past and past participle -)

  1. (transitive) (obsolete) To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase.

Translations[]

Related terms[]

Shorthand[]

(Version: Simplified,Anniversary,Pre-Anniversary): a - b - j - k

French[]

Pronunciation[]

Adjective[]

Abject m. (f. Abjecte, m. plural Abjects, f. plural Abjectes)

  1. (literary) Worthy of utmost contempt or disgust; vile; despicable.
  2. (literary, obsolete) Of the lowest social position.

Usage notes[]

  • Abject lacks the idea of groveling, of moral degradation over time that is present in the English word.

Derived terms[]

am:abject ar:abject de:abject et:abject el:abject es:abject fa:abject fr:abject ko:abject io:abject it:abject kn:abject hu:abject ml:abject my:abject nl:abject ja:abject pl:abject pt:abject ru:abject fi:abject ta:abject te:abject th:abject tr:abject uk:abject vi:abject zh:abject

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