# depress

/dɪˈpɹɛs/ (US) · /dɪpɹˈɛs/ (UK) · CEFR C1 · Verb

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/depress
Updated: 2026-05-20

## Definition

to make something feel sad or to cause a country's economy to grow very slowly. In math, it means to lower the value of a number or a graph.

For teachers: to cause a state of low spirits or to cause a decline in economic activity; in a mathematical context, to reduce the value of a variable or to lower the position of a graph.

## Examples

- The news of the job loss began to depress the local economy.
- The central bank raised interest rates to prevent the housing market from further depressing the national economy.
- In linear algebra, the matrix is designed to depress the eigenvalues of the system, effectively stabilizing the output over time.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.