Question

dejection Her friends were puzzled by her frequent periods of dejection, which seemed to occur with no obvious cause. dejection*

Accepted Answer

Sadness, depression, or lowness of spirits. Based partly on the Latin iacere, “to throw” (see JECT), dejection means literally “cast down”—that is, “downcast.” Like melancholy, gloom, and even sadness, dejection seems to have been declining in use for many years; instead, we now seem to prefer depression (whose roots mean basically “a pressing down”). Since depression is also the word used by doctors, lots of people now assume that anyone depressed should be taking an antidepressant; if we went back to dejected and dejection, we might not be so quick to make that assumption

word	dejection
definition	Sadness, depression, or lowness of spirits.
eg_sentence	Her friends were puzzled by her frequent periods of dejection, which seemed to occur with no obvious cause.
explanation	Based partly on the Latin iacere, “to throw” (see JECT), dejection means literally “cast down”—that is, “downcast.” Like melancholy, gloom, and even sadness, dejection seems to have been declining in use for many years; instead, we now seem to prefer depression (whose roots mean basically “a pressing down”). Since depression is also the word used by doctors, lots of people now assume that anyone depressed should be taking an antidepressant; if we went back to dejected and dejection, we might not be so quick to make that assumption
IPA	dejection*

Dejection Sadness Depression Lowness Spirits Friends Puzzled Frequent