😞 To make sad ⬇️ To lower 🔘 To press down

to depress

5 3.9

To press a button or key down

verb
/dɪˈprɛs/

: presionar

At this point, depress the shutter release and you have your photograph.
depress the key
depress a button

So to the point where they they couldn't depress their guns to shoot us if they thought we were bad in V bids.

Examples

Never depress operator's foot triggers here, here... - and at the rear here.

1941 (1979)
To open the door, you need to depress the button on the doorknob.
Request them to depress the switch on the wall, would you?

Monster a Go-Go! (1965)
When a different picture was seen, the child was instructed to depress the key.

Academic text (1992)
So you don't need very much movement at all, just like pressure ready to depress the switch.
If you depress this knob, you'll gain a long second.

Trancers (1984)
"When I depress my recliner button, "I expect the chair to recline.

Greenberg (2010)
A finger like a pale spider crab moves along the sheet and depresses a button.

Fiction book (2001)
As he watches, somewhat mystified, she inserts the pin, tickles the lock a few times, and depresses the handle.

Fiction book (1998)
The doctor looked into Bruno's throat with a flashlight, depressing his tongue with a light aluminum spoon.

Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

to push down

vsto depress

106 2.0

Make something move down by using force

is a precise downward action for pressing small controls like buttons

to press down

vsto depress

31 2.5

To push something down with force to make it flat or close it

is used for a small controlled press, especially on buttons or keys

to press down on

vsto depress

11 2.2

Push something down using your hand or weight

is a small intentional push commonly for operating a button or key

Antonyms

to release

∞ 1.8

To let someone or something go free from being held

to lift

407 1.0

To raise something higher by hand or with a machine

How Hard

to push

∞ 1.0

to depress

5 3.9

Surface Forms

depress infinitive

depressed past

depressed past participle

depressing present participle

depresses third person singular

Morphology

depress = press (semi-transparent) = de + press

This sense is close to 'press down', but the prefix 'de-' is a less productive Latinate element for many learners, so the meaning is only partly predictable.

Etymology

Depress comes from the parts de- 'down' and press 'to push', so it literally means to 'push down', as when you depress a button or a pedal to make it go down.