| Learning / English Dictionary |
DOWNCAST
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A ventilation shaft through which air enters a mine
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("downcast" is a kind of...):
shaft (a long vertical passage sunk into the earth, as for a mine or tunnel)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Filled with melancholy and despondency
Example:
feeling discouraged and downhearted
Synonyms:
blue; depressed; dispirited; down; down in the mouth; downcast; downhearted; gloomy; grim; low; low-spirited
Classified under:
Similar:
dejected (affected or marked by low spirits)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Directed downward
Example:
a downcast glance
Classified under:
Similar:
down (being or moving lower in position or less in some value)
Context examples:
She was always labouring, in secret, under this distress; and being delicate and downcast at the time of his last repulse—for it was not the first, by many—pined away and died.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
First he passed two Dominicans in their long black dresses, who swept by him with downcast looks and pattering lips, without so much as a glance at him.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Amy preserved a discreet silence, but there was a conscious look in her downcast face that made Laurie sit up and say gravely, "Now I'm going to play brother, and ask questions. May I?"
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I leaned my head upon my hand; and felt more sorry and downcast, as I sat looking at the fire, than I could have supposed possible so soon after the fulfilment of my brightest hopes.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
So saying, with downcast lids and a dignity which was somewhat marred by her bedraggled skirt, she swept off down the muddy track, leaving Alleyne standing staring ruefully after her.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I wondered what she was thinking about, as I glanced in admiring silence at the little soft hand travelling up the row of buttons on my coat, and at the clustering hair that lay against my breast, and at the lashes of her downcast eyes, slightly rising as they followed her idle fingers.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
