as in bleak
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
the depressive story about a struggling artist
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of depressive
Research has suggested that 60% of female athletes have experienced some form of body shaming and are two times more likely to experience depressive symptoms and eating disorders when compared to their male counterparts.
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Doha Madani, NBC news, 13 Dec. 2025
Research shows that stimulating this region can improve sleep efficiency, reduce depressive symptoms and enhance cognitive sharpness.
—Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 9 Dec. 2025
Regular resistance exercise has been shown to reduce chronic inflammation in aging adults, improve sleep quality and lessen anxiety and depressive symptoms in older adults.
—Dana Santas, CNN Money, 5 Dec. 2025
Whether that is a shortcoming of the script (Ramsay wrote the film, along with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch; it’s based on Ariana Harwicz’s novel) or purposeful by Ramsay in an attempt to keep the lines between reality and depressive fantasy blurred is unclear.
—Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 6 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for depressive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for depressive
Adjective
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Her family later learned that on April 23, 2021 — the day Parker found his aunt in a bleak mood — Dee had an angry confrontation over financial issues with two employees of the trucking company.—
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Some of Tarr’s most memorable scenes feature landscapes, often bleak and despairing settings of decaying Hungarian towns, punctuated with close-ups of characters’ faces.—
Adjective
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In the story, there is a lot of comedy that naturally arises from tragic moments, from dark, depressing moments.—
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This is par for the course, because conversations are confusing, even depressing.—
Adjective
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The patient thriller finds Agnes lonely in her seedy motel, with a phone that often rings, though the person on the other end of the line never speaks.—
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Namir Smallwood stars opposite Coon as Peter, a paranoid former soldier and mysterious drifter who meets her character Agnes, a lonely waitress.—
Adjective
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With so many comedy writers on the bill, the Broder tribute was no somber affair.—
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As is tradition, all the women were dressed in black ensembles to mark the somber occasion, which commemorates members of the military from Britain and the Commonwealth who have died in battle.—
Adjective
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Don't feel afraid to play with bold (but dark) colors and various materials.—
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Open my soul to the vast dark places.—
Adjective
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Sátántangó’s desolate landscapes, dominated by mud, wind, and overcast skies, summoned a vision of earthly purgatory unrivaled in almost all of cinema.—
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Thanksgiving is desolate with freezing rain.—
Adjective
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Neither the film nor the book are ever morbid.—
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For some, disposing of ashes is a morbid thought.—
Adjective
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More than five hours after the crash, there was a solemn procession off of Route 146 led by Massachusetts State Police, followed by the medical examiner and fellow police officers.—
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That this is a serious matter—not slight at all—does not oblige the author of a seriously funny book to be solemn.—
Cite this Entry
“Depressive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/depressive. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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