Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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adj
Of the eyes, a facial expression, etc.: looking downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of a person or thing: cast or thrown to the ground.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of a thing: directed downwards.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of a person: feeling despondent or discouraged.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: sorrowful, unhappy, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless, chopfallen, crestfallen, cut up, damp, dejected, depressed, despondent, disgruntled, disconsolate, disheartened, dismal, doleful, dolesome, down, down in the dumps, down in the mouth, downcast, downhearted, downsome, dull, elegiac, elegious, forlorn, gloomy, glum, grief-stricken, grieving, heavy-hearted, heartsore, heartsick, inconsolable, infelicitous, jawfallen, joyless, lachrymose, lamentful, low, low-spirited, lugubrious, lumpish, melancholic, melancholy, miserable, moody, mopey, morose, mournful, passionate, plaintive, Plutonian, Plutonic, querulous, ruthful, sad, saddened, saturnine, shattered, solemn, sombre, sorrow-ridden, sorrowsome, spiritless, sullen, threnetic, threnetical, triste, tristful, uncheerful, uncheery, unconsolable, unlively, wistful, woe, woebegone, woeful, wretched
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of a person or thing: defeated, overthrown; also, destroyed, ruined.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Synonym of downthrow (“a depression of the strata on one side of a fault; also, the degree of downward displacement in such a fault”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences
Synonyms: downthrow
Antonyms: upcast, upthrow
noun
An act of looking downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty; hence (uncountable, archaic), dejection, melancholy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
An act, or the situation, of being cast or thrown to the ground.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A defeat, an overthrow; also, an act of destruction or ruin.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, countable, figuratively, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A cast (“change of expression of a data type”) from supertype to subtype.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: upcast
noun
A ventilating shaft down which air passes in circulating through a mine.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: attributive, countable
Topics: business, mining
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To turn (the eyes) downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cast or throw (something) downwards; also, to drop or lower (something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To demolish or tear down (a building, etc.).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make (someone) feel despondent or discouraged; to discourage, to sadden.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: cast down
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cast (“change the expression of”) (a data type) from supertype to subtype.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: upcast
verb
To reproach or upbraid (someone); also, to taunt (someone).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To depose or overthrow (a leader, an institution, etc.); also (sometimes reflexive), to bring down (oneself or someone) from an exalted position; to humble.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: cast down
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
filled with melancholy and despondency
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: gloomy, grim, blue, depressed, dispirited, down(p), downhearted, down in the mouth, low, low-spirited
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
directed downward
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a ventilation shaft through which air enters a mine
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: shaft
History
The adjective is derived from Middle English doun-casten, *adoun-casten (“(adjective) cast down, dejected; (verb) to break down (something); to overcome (someone); to overturn (something)”), from down (“in a downward direction; (figurative) to destruction”), adoun (“downward”) + casten (“to throw (something), fling, hurl; to overcome (someone), defeat, overpower; [etc.]”) (from Old Norse kasta (“to cast, throw”), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw”), from *kas- (“to throw, toss; to bring up”); further etymology uncertain), modelled similarly to other constructions in Middle English such as adoun-throwen (“to throw down”) and adoun-werpen (“to throw down”)). The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“that has been thrown”, adjective). The noun is derived from the adjective.
From Middle English downcast (“misfortune”), adoun-cast (“destruction, overthrow”), from adoun (“downward”) + cast (“a throw, a cast”) (from Old Norse kast (“a throw”), from kasten (“to cast, throw”)), from Middle English casten adoun: see etymology 1. The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“act of throwing”, noun).
From Middle English doun-casten, *adoun-casten (“to cast or throw (something) downwards; to break down (something); to overcome (someone); to overturn (something)”), from down (“in a downward direction; (figurative) to destruction”), adoun (“downward”) + casten (“to throw (something), fling, hurl; to overcome (someone), defeat, overpower; [etc.]”): see etymology 1. The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“to throw”, verb).
Across languages
60 source translations are retained for this English entry.
