English

Adjective

abject ‎(comparative abjecter or more abject, superlative abjectest or most abject)

1. (obsolete) Rejected; cast aside. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the early 17^th century.]^[2]
2. Sunk to or existing in a low condition, state, or position. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).]^[2]
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

     So thick bestrown abject and lost lay these, covering the flood.

3. Cast down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; grovelling; despicable; lacking courage; offered in a humble and often ingratiating spirit. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).]^[2]
   • (Can we date this quote?), Joseph Addison, Whig Examiner:

     Base and abject flatterers.

   • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second:

     An abject liar.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, I-ii:

     And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams.

   • 1931, Faulkner, Sanctuary, 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.

4. Showing utter hopelessness, helplessness; showing resignation; wretched. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).]^[2]
   • 1927, Countee Cullen, From the Dark Tower:

     We shall not always plant while others reap \ The golden increment of bursting fruit, \ Not always countenance, abject and mute \ That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "abject" is often applied: poverty, fear, terror, submission, misery, failure, state, condition, apology, humility, servitude, manner, coward.

Synonyms

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

Related terms

Translations

Noun

abject ‎(plural abjects)

1. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway; outcast. [First attested from the late 15^th century.]^[2]
   • (Can we date this quote?), Isaac Taylor, (Please provide the title of the work):

     Shall these abjects, these victims, these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure?

   • circa 1591-1594, Shakespeare, Richard III, Act I, Scene I:

     We are the queen's abjects, and must obey.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English abjecten, derived from the adjective form.^[3]

Verb

abject ‎(third-person singular simple present abjects, present participle abjecting, simple past and past participle abjected)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To cast off or out; to reject. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17^th century.]^[2]
   • 2001, Jana Evans Braziel, Kathleen LeBesco (editors), Bodies out of bounds: fatness and transgression, page 141:

     Rather than abjecting her own fat body, the Ipecac-taking fat girl is abjecting diet culture.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To cast down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17^th century.]^[2]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of John Donne to this entry?)

Translations

Related terms

References

1. ↑ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], ISBN 0550142304), page 3
2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 5
3. ↑ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5), page 4

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

abject m ‎(feminine singular abjecte, masculine plural abjects, feminine 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