Legal Dictionary

abject

Legal Definition of abject

  1. sunk to low condition
  2. grovelling
  3. mean
  4. despicable

Definition of abject

Etymology

    From Latin abiectus, past participle of abicere ("to reject"), formed from ab- + iacere ("to throw").

Pronunciation

  • enPR: ăbʹjĕkt, IPA: /ˈæbdʒɛkt/, SAMPA: /"{bdZEkt/ or enPR: ăbʹjĭkt, IPA: /ˈæbdʒɪkt/, SAMPA: /"{bdZIkt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛkt
  • Audio (UK) [?]

Adjective

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

  1. Sunk to a low condition; down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; grovelling; despicable; as, abject posture, fortune, thoughts.

    "Base and abject flatterers." - Joseph Addison
    "An abject liar." - Thomas Babington Macaulay
    "And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams." - Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, I-ii
    "He sat obediently with that tentative and abject eagerness of a man who has but one pleasure left and whom the world can reach only through one sense, for he was both blind and deaf." - 1931 Faulkner, Sanctuary, ii
  2. (obsolete) Cast down; rejected; low-lying.

    "So thick bestrown abject and lost lay these, covering the flood." - John Milton

Synonyms

  • beggarly, contemptible, cringing, degraded, groveling, ignoble, mean, mean-spirited, slavish, vile, worthless

Related terms

  • abjectly
  • abjectness

References:

  1. Wiktionary. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.



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