Meaning & use
depressing
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Making you feel sad, hopeless or without energy.
Grammar: Describes the thing that causes the feeling: a depressing film, not a depressing person who feels sad.
Patterns
- it is depressing to do something
- depressing news
The news about the factory closing was deeply depressing.
It is depressing to see so much rubbish on the beach.
The weather has been gray and depressing all week.
adjectivecomparableinformal
Dull, bleak and unpleasant to look at or be in.
Grammar: Often describes places: a depressing office.
Patterns
- a depressing place
The waiting room was a depressing little space with no windows.
I find the empty street depressing in winter.
The hotel's depressing decor made us leave early.
Word forms
| comparative | more depressing |
|---|---|
| superlative | most depressing |
Common combinations
- deeply depressing
- The report was deeply depressing for the whole team.
- depressing news
- The depressing news spread quickly around the office.
- rather depressing
- The ending was rather depressing.
- depressing thought
- It's a depressing thought that prices will keep rising.
- depressing sight
- The empty shopping center was a depressing sight.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gloomy
- Gloomy suggests dark, dim or pessimistic, and can describe weather as well as moods.
- dismal
- Dismal is stronger and often means poor in quality, as in a dismal performance.
- disheartening
- Disheartening focuses on losing hope or confidence after a setback.
- bleak
- Bleak describes a situation or place with no comfort or hope, and is less personal than depressing.
Opposites
Word family
- depress verb
- to make someone feel sad
- depressed adjective
- feeling very sad
- depression noun
- deep sadness or a medical condition
- depressingly adverb
- in a way that makes you sad
Commonly confused: depressing or depressed?
depressing vs depressed
Depressed describes the person who feels low, while depressing describes what makes them feel that way.
Practice
I felt ___ after reading the news, because it was so ___.
Choose one answer.
Depressed describes the person feeling sad, and depressing describes the news that causes it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “depressing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.