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
Audio (UK) noicon (file)
Adjective[]
Abject (comparative er, superlative more)
Positive |
Superlative |
- 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
- (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[]
- abjectly
- abjectness
Translations[]
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- 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 |
Plural |
Abject ({{{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[]
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Verb[]
Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
to Abject (third-person singular simple present -, present participle -, simple past and past participle -)
Translations[]
Related terms[]
Shorthand[]
- Gregg (Version: Centennial,Series 90,DJS): a - b - j - k - t
- (Version: Simplified,Anniversary,Pre-Anniversary): a - b - j - k
French[]
Pronunciation[]
abject noicon (file)
Adjective[]
Abject m. (f. Abjecte, m. plural Abjects, f. plural Abjectes)
- (literary) Worthy of utmost contempt or disgust; vile; despicable.
- (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[]
- 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