Wiktionary

abject

English

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WOTD – 10 April 2022

Etymology 1

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PIE word
*h₂epó

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English abiect, abject (“expelled, outcast, rejected, wretched”, adjective) [and other forms],[1] from Middle French abject (“worthy of utmost contempt or disgust, despicable, vile; of a person: brought low, cast down; of low social position”) (modern French abject, abjet (obsolete)), and from its etymon Latin abiectus (“abandoned; cast or thrown aside; dejected, downcast; ordinary, undistinguished, unimportant; (by extension) base, sordid; despicable, vile; humble, low; subservient”), an adjective use of the perfect passive participle of abiciō (“to discard, throw away or down; to cast or push away or aside; to abandon, give up; to belittle, degrade, humble; to lower, reduce; to overthrow, vanquish; to undervalue; to waste”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away; away from; from’) + iaciō (“to cast, hurl, throw, throw away”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw”)).[2][3]

The noun is derived from the adjective.[2]

cognates

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. Existing in or sunk to a low condition, position, or state; contemptible, despicable, miserable. [from early 15th c.]
    Synonyms: degraded, (archaic) demiss, ignoble, mean, vile, wretched, worthless
    Antonym: unabject
  2. (by extension)
    1. (chiefly with a negative connotation) Complete; downright; utter.
      Synonyms: out-and-out, unmitigated; see also Thesaurus:total
      abject failure   abject nonsense   abject terror
    2. (rare) Lower than nearby areas; low-lying.
  3. Of a person: cast down in hope or spirit; showing utter helplessness, hopelessness, or resignation; also, grovelling; ingratiating; servile. [from mid 14th c.]
    Synonyms: beggarly, cringing, slavish
    Antonym: unabject
  4. (sociology, usually nominalized) Marginalized as deviant.
    • 2007, Sean Brayton, “MTV's Jackass: Transgression, Abjection and the Economy of White Masculinity”, in Journal of Gender Studies, volume 16, page 59:
      The abject can easily be grafted onto the immigrant body, which is often conceived as something to be excluded in order to preserve a coherent yet racist national imaginary.
    • 2009, W. C. Harris, Queer Externalities: Hazardous Encounters in American Culture, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 98:
      The disclosure of tolerance's hidden phobic lining fits in well with queer theory's embrace of the abject.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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abject (plural abjects)

  1. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; an oppressed person; an outcast; also, such people as a class. [from early 16th c.]
    Synonyms: (rare) heanling, wretch
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Late Middle English abjecten (“to cast out, expel”) [and other forms],[4] from abiect, abject (adjective) (see etymology 1).[5]

Sense 3 (“of a fungus: to give off (spores or sporidia)”) is modelled after German abschleudern (“to give off forcefully”).[5]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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abject (third-person singular simple present abjects, present participle abjecting, simple past and past participle abjected) (transitive, chiefly archaic)

  1. To cast off or out (someone or something); to reject, especially as contemptible or inferior. [from 15th c.]
    • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Elizabeth Queene of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 104, page 848, column 1:
      […] Dauid durſt not touch Saul, though he vvas abiected by God.
    • 2001, Le’a Kent, “Fighting Abjection: Representing Fat Women”, in Jana Evans Braziel, Kathleen LeBesco, editors, Bodies out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, →ISBN, part I (Revaluing Corpulence, Redefining Fat Subjectivities), page 141:
      Rather than abjecting her own fat body, the Ipecac-taking fat girl is abjecting diet culture.
  2. To cast down (someone or something); to abase; to debase; to degrade; to lower; also, to forcibly impose obedience or servitude upon (someone); to subjugate. [from 15th c.]
    • a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon IX. Preached on Candlemas Day.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 182:
      What phrases of abjecting themselves, in respect of the prince, can exceed David's humble expressing of himself to Saul?
  3. (mycology) Of a fungus: to (forcibly) give off (spores or sporidia).
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “abject, ppl.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “abject, adj. and n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021
  3. ^ “abject, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “abjecten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Compare “abject, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.

Further reading

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  • Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 4
  • Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 3
  • Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abject”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 5.

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French abject, from Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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abject (comparative abjecter, superlative abjectst)

  1. reprehensible, despicable, abject
    Het is teleologisch, infaam en het is abject.
    It is teleological, scandalous and it is reprehensible.

Inflection

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Declension of abject
uninflected abject
inflected abjecte
comparative abjecter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial abject abjecter het abjectst
het abjectste
indefinite m./f. sing. abjecte abjectere abjectste
n. sing. abject abjecter abjectste
plural abjecte abjectere abjectste
definite abjecte abjectere abjectste
partitive abjects abjecters —

Derived terms

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French

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Etymology

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From Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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abject (feminine abjecte, masculine plural abjects, feminine plural abjectes)

  1. (literary) Worthy of utmost contempt or disgust; vile; despicable
  2. (literary, obsolete) of the lowest social position

Usage notes

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  • Abject lacks the idea of groveling, of moral degradation over time that is present in the English word.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → German: abjekt
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: abjekt
  • → Romanian: abject

Further reading

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French abject, from Latin abiectus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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abject m or n (feminine singular abjectă, masculine plural abjecți, feminine and neuter plural abjecte)

  1. abject

Declension

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Declension of abject
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/
accusative 		indefinite abject abjectă abjecți abjecte
definite abjectul abjecta abjecții abjectele
genitive/
dative 		indefinite abject abjecte abjecți abjecte
definite abjectului abjectei abjecților abjectelor
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