EnglishModificar

EtymologyModificar

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

PronunciationModificar

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

• Audio (UK)	noicon
  (file)

AdjectiveModificar

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

SynonymsModificar

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

Related termsModificar

• abjectly
• abjectness

TranslationsModificar

• Bulgarian: низък, долен, жалък
• Vietnamese: hèn hạ, thấp hèn, đê tiện, đáng khinh, khốn khổ, khốn nạn

NounModificar

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]

TranslationsModificar

VerbModificar

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

TranslationsModificar

Related termsModificar

• abjection

ShorthandModificar

• Gregg (Version: Centennial,Series 90,DJS): a - b - j - k - t

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

FrenchModificar

PronunciationModificar

• abject	noicon
  (file)

AdjectiveModificar

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 notesModificar

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

Derived termsModificar

• abjectement
• abjection

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