depression

n.

1. Something lower than its surroundings

   cavity, dip, sink; see dent, hole 2.

2. Low spirits

   despair, despondency, sadness, sorrow, unhappiness, gloom, dejection, melancholy, misery, wretchedness, trouble, mortification, worry, discouragement, dispiritedness, hopelessness, pessimism, distress, desperation, desolation, dreariness, heaviness of spirit, dullness, disconsolation, downheartedness, woefulness, lugubriousness, moroseness, cheerlessness, disconsolateness, melancholia, dolor, dolefulness, darkness, bleakness, oppression, low-spiritedness, lowness, gloominess, glumness, disheartenment, hypochondria, vapors, malaise, clinical depression, dysthymia, slough of despond, Weltschmerz (German), doldrums, dumps*, mulligrubs*, blues*, blue devils*, horrors*, blue funk*, blahs*; see also gloom 2, grief 1, sadness.

   Antonyms joy*, elation*, satisfaction. *

3. Period of commercial stress

   economic decline, recession, slump, economic downturn, unemployment, slack times, hard times, bad times, inflation, crisis, overproduction, retrenchment, slowdown, economic dislocation, economic paralysis, economic stagnation, financial storm, business inactivity, panic, crash*, bust*, Black Friday*, stagflation*; see also bankruptcy.

   Antonyms prosperity*, good times, boom.