1 [noncount] a : a state of feeling sad
▪ anger, anxiety, and depression
b : a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way
▪ She has been undergoing treatment for severe/deep depression. ▪ Many people suffer from clinical depression for years before being diagnosed. ▪ bouts/periods of depression — see also manic depression 2 : a period of time in which there is little economic activity and many people do not have jobs [count] ▪ After several years of an economic boom, it looks as though we may be heading toward a depression. ▪ He grew up during the (Great) Depression. [=the 1930s, when the U.S. and many other countries were in a very bad depression] [noncount] ▪ periods of economic depression 3 [count] : an area on a surface that is lower than other parts : a low spot
▪ The photographs show depressions in the moon's surface. 4 [count] weather : a large area where there is low pressure in the atmosphere with usually clouds and rain
▪ a tropical depression