 5 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
abject
adjective
1: of the most contemptible kind; "abject cowardice"; "a low
stunt to pull"; "a low-down sneak"; "his miserable
treatment of his family"; "You miserable skunk!"; "a
scummy rabble"; "a scurvy trick" [syn: {low}, {low-down},
{miserable}, {scummy}, {scurvy}]
2: most unfortunate or miserable; "the most abject slaves
joined in the revolt"; "abject poverty"
3: showing utter resignation or hopelessness; "abject
surrender" [syn: {resigned}, {unhopeful}]
4: showing humiliation or submissiveness; "an abject apology"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
abject \ab"ject\ ([a^]b"j[e^]kt), adjective [L. abjectus, p. p. of
abjicere to throw away; ab + jacere to throw. See {Jet} a
shooting forth.]
1. Cast down; low-lying. [Obs.]
From the safe shore their floating carcasses
And broken chariot wheels; so thick bestrown
Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood.
--Milton.
2. Degraded; servile; groveling; despicable; as, abject
posture, fortune, thoughts. ''Base and abject
flatterers.'' --Addison. ''An abject liar.'' --Macaulay.
And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams. --Shak.
3. Sunk to a low condition; down in spirit or hope;
miserable; -- of persons.
4. Humiliating; degrading; wretched; -- of situations; as,
abject poverty.
[PJC]
Syn: Mean; groveling; cringing; mean-spirited; slavish;
ignoble; worthless; vile; beggarly; contemptible;
degraded.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abject \Ab*ject"\ ([a^]b*j[e^]kt"), verb (used with an object) [From {Abject}, adjective]
To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower;
to debase. [Obs.] --Donne.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abject \Ab"ject\ ([a^]b"j[e^]kt), noun
A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a
castaway. [Obs.]
Shall these abjects, these victims, these outcasts,
know any thing of pleasure? --I. Taylor.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
122 Moby Thesaurus words for "abject":
abominable, accepting, acquiescent, agreeable, apologetic, arrant,
assenting, atrocious, backscratching, base, beggarly, bootlicking,
cheesy, complaisant, compliable, compliant, complying, consenting,
contemptible, contrite, cowering, crawling, cringing, crouching,
crummy, debased, degraded, depraved, despicable, dirty, disgusting,
execrable, fawning, flagrant, flattering, footlicking, foul,
fulsome, grave, gross, groveling, hangdog, heinous, humble,
humble-minded, humble-spirited, humbled, humblehearted,
ingratiating, little, low, low-down, lumpen, mangy, mealymouthed,
mean, measly, meek, meek-minded, meek-spirited, meekhearted,
melted, miserable, monstrous, nefarious, nondissenting,
nonresistant, nonresisting, nonresistive, obedient, obeisant,
obnoxious, obsequious, odious, on bended knee, paltry, parasitic,
passive, penitent, penitential, penitentiary, petty, poky, poor,
poor in spirit, prostrate, rank, repentant, reptilian, resigned,
scabby, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, servile, shabby,
sheepish, shoddy, small, sniveling, softened, sponging, squalid,
submissive, subservient, supine, sycophantic, timeserving,
toadeating, toadying, toadyish, touched, truckling, unassertive,
uncomplaining, underfoot, unmentionable, unresistant, unresisting,
vile, wretched
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