Online OXFORD Collocation Dictionary

depression noun

¹ unhappiness/mental illness

ADJ. black, deep, serious, severe | acute, chronic | mild | clinical | manic | post-natal

QUANT. bout, fit, period The actor says he suffers frequent bouts of depression. In a fit of depression, she threw away all her favourite books. A period of acute depression can sometimes follow childbirth.

VERB + DEPRESSION develop, fall into, go into, succumb to She fell into a black depression and refused to leave her room. | experience, have, suffer (from) She was diagnosed as having clinical depression. | be treated for His wife had left him and he was being treated for depression. | come out of, get over She was gradually coming out of her depression. | cause, lead to Bereavement can often lead to depression. | relieve, treat a new drug used to treat depression

DEPRESSION + VERB deepen | lift Her depression has lifted now.

PREP. in ~ He may have killed himself in depression. | with ~ He's been off work for months with depression.

PHRASES (a) cause for depression These results should not be a cause for depression. | the depths of depression I was in the depths of depression after receiving my exam results. | feelings of depression, the onset of depression The onset of depression often follows a traumatic event. | a state of depression He was in a state of acute depression. | symptoms of depression, treatment for depression She had been receiving medical treatment for depression. > Special page at ILLNESS

² period of reduced economic activity

ADJ. great, major, serious, severe | economic The country is experiencing a severe economic depression.

VERB + DEPRESSION be in the grip of, experience | go into The housing market has gone into depression. | face

DEPRESSION + VERB deepen The depression seems to be deepening. | end

PREP. during/in a/the ~ Many people lost their jobs in the great depression of the 1930s.

PHRASES the depths of a depression, a period of depression periods of severe economic depression

³ hollow part in the surface of sth

ADJ. shallow, slight | deep

PREP. ~ in, ~ on From the air, the photos show a shallow depression on the planet's surface.