abject

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English

Etymology 1

PIE word
*h₂epó

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English abiect, abject (adjective) , 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.

Pronunciation

Adjective

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

  1. Existing in or sunk to a low condition, position, or state; contemptible, despicable, miserable.
    Synonyms: degraded, (archaic) demiss, ignoble, mean, vile, wretched, worthless
    Antonym: unabject
    • 1592, Thomas Nash, Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. , London: Richard Ihones, , →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Twelfth Song”, in , editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, , London: for M Lownes; I Browne; I Helme; I Busbie, →OCLC, pages 206–207:
      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.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. , London: ">…] , and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 305–313:
      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.
    • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 18, lines 168–170:
      By hovv much from the top of vvondrous glory, / Strongeſt of mortal men, / To lovveſt pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n.
    • 1751 December (indicated as 1752), Henry Fielding, “Containing Matters that Require No Preface”, in Amelia, volume II, London: A Millar , →OCLC, book V, page 129:
      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?
    • 1840 January, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “ Lord Clive. ”, in Critical and Historical Essays, Contributed to the Edinburgh Review. , 2nd edition, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, , published 1843, →OCLC, page 119:
      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.
    • 2020 September 23, Ed Caesar, “The FinCEN Files Shed New Light on a Scandalous Episode at Deutsche Bank”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: New Yorker Magazine Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 March 2022:
      Meanwhile, nearly fifty million dollars were also funnelled through mirror trades to the Khanani network, whose clients include associates of Hezbollah and the Taliban. Deutsche Bank’s reputation was abject even before the mirror-trades scandal broke.
  2. (by extension)
    1. (chiefly with a negative connotation) Complete; downright; utter.
      Synonyms: out-and-out, unmitigated; see also Thesaurus:total
      abject failure   abject nonsense   abject terror
    2. (rare) Lower than nearby areas; low-lying.
  3. Of a person: cast down in hope or spirit; showing utter helplessness, hopelessness, or resignation; also, grovelling; ingratiating; servile.
    Synonyms: beggarly, cringing, slavish
    Antonym: unabject
  4. (sociology, usually nominalized) Marginalized as deviant.
    • 2007, Sean Brayton, “MTV's Jackass: Transgression, Abjection and the Economy of White Masculinity”, in Journal of Gender Studies, volume 16, page 59:
      The abject can easily be grafted onto the immigrant body, which is often conceived as something to be excluded in order to preserve a coherent yet racist national imaginary.
    • 2009, W. C. Harris, Queer Externalities: Hazardous Encounters in American Culture, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 98:
      The disclosure of tolerance's hidden phobic lining fits in well with queer theory's embrace of the abject.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

abject (plural abjects)

  1. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; an oppressed person; an outcast; also, such people as a class.
    Synonyms: (rare) heanling, wretch
Translations

Etymology 2

From Late Middle English abjecten (to cast out, expel) , from abiect, abject (adjective) (see etymology 1).

Sense 3 (“of a fungus: to give off (spores or sporidia)”) is modelled after German abschleudern (to give off forcefully).

Pronunciation

Verb

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

  1. To cast off or out (someone or something); to reject, especially as contemptible or inferior.
    • 1611, Iohn Speed , “Elizabeth Queene of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. ”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. , London: William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, , →OCLC, book IX ( ), paragraph 104, page 848, column 1:
      Dauid durſt not touch Saul, though he vvas abiected by God.
    • 2001, Le’a Kent, “Fighting Abjection: Representing Fat Women”, in Jana Evans Braziel, Kathleen LeBesco, editors, Bodies out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, →ISBN, part I (Revaluing Corpulence, Redefining Fat Subjectivities), page 141:
      Rather than abjecting her own fat body, the Ipecac-taking fat girl is abjecting diet culture.
  2. To cast down (someone or something); to abase; to debase; to degrade; to lower; also, to forcibly impose obedience or servitude upon (someone); to subjugate.
    • a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon IX. Preached on Candlemas Day.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., , volume I, London: John W Parker, , published 1839, →OCLC, page 182:
      What phrases of abjecting themselves, in respect of the prince, can exceed David's humble expressing of himself to Saul?
      The spelling has been modernized.
  3. (mycology) Of a fungus: to (forcibly) give off (spores or sporidia).
Derived terms
Translations

References

  1. ^ abject, ppl.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. 2.0 2.1 abject, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021
  3. ^ abject, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ abjecten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Compare abject, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021.

Further reading

  • Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 , →ISBN), page 4
  • Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 , →ISBN), page 3
  • Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abject”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 5.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French abject, from Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

abject (comparative abjecter, superlative abjectst)

  1. reprehensible, despicable, abject
    Het is teleologisch, infaam en het is abject.
    It is teleological, scandalous and it is reprehensible.

Declension

Declension of abject
uninflected abject
inflected abjecte
comparative abjecter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial abject abjecter het abjectst
het abjectste
indefinite m./f. sing. abjecte abjectere abjectste
n. sing. abject abjecter abjectste
plural abjecte abjectere abjectste
definite abjecte abjectere abjectste
partitive abjects abjecters

Derived terms

French

Etymology

From Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

abject (feminine 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

Descendants

  • German: abjekt
  • Norwegian Bokmål: abjekt
  • Romanian: abject

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French abject, from Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

abject m or n (feminine singular abjectă, masculine plural abjecți, feminine and neuter plural abjecte)

  1. abject

Declension

Declension of abject
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative
indefinite abject abjectă abjecți abjecte
definite abjectul abjecta abjecții abjectele
genitive-
dative
indefinite abject abjecte abjecți abjecte
definite abjectului abjectei abjecților abjectelor