abject
/ˈæbˌd͡ʒɛkt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.00 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Existing in or sunk to a low condition, position, or state; contemptible, despicable, miserable.
adj
Of a person: cast down in hope or spirit; showing utter helplessness, hopelessness, or resignation; also, grovelling; ingratiating; servile.
adj
Marginalized as deviant.
noun
A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; an oppressed person; an outcast; also, such people as a class.
verb
To cast off or out (someone or something); to reject, especially as contemptible or inferior.
Archaic; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "These whelpes of the first lytter of gentilitie, these exhalations, drawen vp to the heauen of honour from the dunghill of abiect fortune, haue long been on horsebacke to come riding to your diuellship; but, I know not how, lyke Saint George, they are alwaies mounted but neuer moue."
- "VVhen as thoſe fallovv Deere, and huge-hancht Stags that graz'd / Vpon her ſhaggy Heaths, the paſſenger amaz'd / To ſee their mighty Heards, vvith high-palmd heads to threat / The vvoods of o'regrovvne Oakes; as though they meant to ſet / Their hornes to th'others heights. / But novv, both thoſe and theſe / Are by vile gaine deuour'd: So abiect are our daies."
- "[W]ith fierce Winds Orion arm'd / Hath vext the Red-Sea Coaſt, whoſe waves orethrew / Buſiris and his Memphian Chivalrie, / While with perfidious hatred they purſu'd / The Sojourners of Goſhen, who beheld / From the ſafe ſhore their floating Carkaſes / And broken Chariot Wheels, ſo thick beſtrown / Abject and loſt lay theſe, covering the Flood, / Under amazement of their hideous change."
- "By hovv much from the top of vvondrous glory, / Strongeſt of mortal men, / To lovveſt pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n."
- "Do you think, my dear Mrs. James, if the Tables had been turned, if my Fortune had been as high in the World as yours, and you in my Diſtreſs and abject Condition, that I would not have climbed as high as the Monument to viſit you?"
- "The wide dominion of the Franks was severed into a thousand pieces. Nothing more than a nominal dignity was left to the abject heirs of an illustrious name, Charles the Bald, and Charles the Fat, and Charles the Simple."
Etymology
PIE word *h₂epó The adjective is derived from Late Middle English abiect, abject (adjective) [and other forms], from Middle French abject (modern French abject, abjet (obsolete)), and from its etymon Latin abiectus (“abandoned; cast aside”), an adjective use of the perfect passive participle of abiciō (“to discard, throw away”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from’) + iaciō (“to throw”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw”)). The noun is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Italian abiecto (obsolete), abietto * Late Latin abiectus (“humble or poor person”, noun) * Spanish abjecto (obsolete), abyecto
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈæbˌd͡ʒɛkt/
- British English: /ˈæbd͡ʒɛkt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
abjecter (comparative)
more abject (comparative)
abjectest (superlative)
most abject (superlative)
abjects (plural)
abjects (present, singular)
abjecting (participle, present)
abjected (participle, past)
abjected (past)