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abject

 - 3 dictionary results

ab⋅ject

  [ab-jekt, ab-jekt]
Use abject in a Sentence
–adjective
1. utterly hopeless, miserable, humiliating, or wretched: abject poverty.
2. contemptible; despicable; base-spirited: an abject coward.
3. shamelessly servile; slavish.
4. Obsolete. cast aside.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME < L abjectus thrown down (ptp. of abicere, abjicere), equiv. to ab- ab + -jec- throw + -tus ptp. suffix

Related forms:
ab⋅ject⋅ly, adverb
ab⋅ject⋅ness, ab⋅ject⋅ed⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. debasing, degrading; miserable. 2. base, mean, low, vile.

Antonyms:
exalted.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To abject
ab·ject   (āb'jěkt', āb-jěkt')   
adj.  

  1. Brought low in condition or status. See Synonyms at mean2.

  2. Being of the most contemptible kind: abject cowardice.

  3. Being of the most miserable kind; wretched: abject poverty.


[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.]
ab'ject'ly adv., ab·ject'ness, ab·jec'tion n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

abject 
c.1430, "cast off, rejected," from L. abjectus, pp. of abicere "throw away, cast off," from ab- "away, off" + jacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). Fig. sense of "downcast, brought low" first attested 1520.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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