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😞 To make sad ⬇️ To lower 🔘 To press down
to depress

to depress

4 3.9
To press a button or key down
  • verb
  • /dɪˈprɛs/
translation icon : 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 press down
vsto depress
18 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 push down
vsto depress
16 2.0

Make something move down by using force

is a precise downward action for pressing small controls like buttons
to press down on
vsto depress
8 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
553 1.0

To raise something higher by hand or with a machine

How Hard

to push
∞ 1.0
to depress
4 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.