Depressed describes feeling deeply sad, discouraged, or hopeless for an extended period. When someone feels depressed, it's a heavy, lasting sadness that affects their whole outlook and makes everything seem harder and less interesting. Unlike a bad day or disappointment about something specific, depression can persist and weigh on a person continuously.

You might feel depressed after losing someone you love, experiencing a major disappointment, or going through a difficult time that seems to have no end. When people are depressed, activities they normally enjoy might not feel fun anymore. Getting out of bed, talking to friends, or doing homework can feel exhausting in ways that are hard to explain to others.

Depression is also a medical condition that affects how the brain works. Some people experience clinical depression, which means their sadness and lack of energy are linked to changes in how their brain and body work, not just to difficult circumstances. Doctors and therapists can help people with depression feel better through treatment.

The word also has a completely different meaning in economics: a depression is a severe, long-lasting economic downturn. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many people lost their jobs and struggled financially. Economists use depressed to describe markets or prices that have fallen and stayed low, like a depressed housing market.

As a verb, depressed is the past tense of depress, which can mean to make someone feel very sad or to press something down, like when you depressed a button.