depressing
Making one gloomy
Depressing describes something that causes sadness, discouragement, or low spirits.
A depressing movie leaves you feeling down; depressing news weighs on the mind.
The word often characterizes environments or situations that drain energy or hope: The gray weather and empty streets made the town feel depressing.
Something can be depressing without being tragic—mundane bleakness qualifies.
Destroying confidence or hope
- dispiritingCausing loss of enthusiasm
- discouragingCausing loss of confidence
- dishearteningCausing loss of hope
- deflatingReleasing contained gas
dampening · undermining · uninspiring · sapping · daunting · defeating · frustrating · disappointing
Deeply discouraged, hopeless
- downcastSad or despondent
- forlornSad and abandoned
- crestfallenSad from disappointment
- dolefulExpressing deep sorrow
mournful · melancholy · disconsolate · heartbroken · anguished · grief-stricken · woeful · somber
Total absence of hope
- futileIncapable of producing results
- pointlessLacking any purpose
- resignationVoluntary relinquishment of position
- defeatVictory over another
helpless · dead-end · fruitless · bleak · inescapable · trapped · hopeless · despairing
Bleak and abandoned
- barrenUnable to produce
- starkSevere and unadorned
- austereSeverely simple and unadorned
- forlornSad and abandoned
dreary · grim · inhospitable · abandoned · wasteland · bare · lonely · uninviting
Period following loss
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- bereavementState following loss
- lamentationPassionate expression of grief
- anguishIntense mental suffering
heartache · woe · misery · sadness · suffering · tragedy · loss · tears
Prolonged economic decline
- unemploymentBeing without paid work
- povertySevere lack of resources
- declineDecrease or refuse
- downturnEconomic decline period
stagnant · struggling · foreclosure · bankruptcy · austerity · hardship · slump · crisis
overcast
Sky fully veiled
murky · dim · dark · gloomy · foggy · misty · shadowy · somber · cloudy · dismal
demoralizing
Destroying confidence or hope
- dispiritingCausing loss of enthusiasm
- discouragingCausing loss of confidence
- dishearteningCausing loss of hope
deflating · dampening · undermining · uninspiring · sapping · daunting · defeating · frustrating · disappointing · sobering
despondent
Deeply discouraged, hopeless
- downcastSad or despondent
- forlornSad and abandoned
- crestfallenSad from disappointment
doleful · mournful · melancholy · disconsolate · heartbroken · anguished · grief-stricken · woeful · somber · morose
despair
Total absence of hope
- futileIncapable of producing results
- pointlessLacking any purpose
- resignationVoluntary relinquishment of position
defeat · helpless · dead-end · fruitless · bleak · inescapable · trapped · hopeless · despairing · crushing
desolate
Bleak and abandoned
forlorn · dreary · grim · inhospitable · abandoned · wasteland · bare · lonely · uninviting · wind-swept
mourning
Period following loss
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- bereavementState following loss
- lamentationPassionate expression of grief
anguish · heartache · woe · misery · sadness · suffering · tragedy · loss · tears · elegy
recession
Prolonged economic decline
- unemploymentBeing without paid work
- povertySevere lack of resources
- declineDecrease or refuse
downturn · stagnant · struggling · foreclosure · bankruptcy · austerity · hardship · slump · crisis · inflation
- dispiritingdemoralizing, discouraging, disheartening, dispiriting, deflating
- emotional reactionsinspiring, moving, touching, heartwarming, chilling
- negative tonesangry, bitter, cynical, hostile, resentful
- sombergloomy, bleak, dreary, dismal, melancholy
- discouragementdiscouragement, dejection, defeatism, disappointment, letdown
- exhaustingdraining, taxing, tiring, exhausting, fatiguing
depressinguplifting
Emotionally encouraging
cheering · heartwarming · cheerful · joyful · cheery
depressingencouraging
Giving confidence or hope
hopeful · inspiring · optimistic · heartening · reassuring
- Great Depression1930s global economic crisis
- manic depressionAlternating extreme mood states
- clinical depressionPsychiatric condition of prolonged despair
- freezing point depressionSolute lowers solidification temperature
- economic depressionSustained economic contraction
- manic depressiveAlternates between emotional extremes