down in the dumps
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
It is a question of personality, or more precisely how this is projected in the voice down the telephone wires.
‘ But he was pretty down in the dumps and I felt terrible because I couldn't be there to make his Christmas complete.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.
Common questions
What does “down in the dumps” mean?
Unhappy.
Is “down in the dumps” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.