Abject means as wretched or as complete a failure as could be. Abject poverty, an abject apology, abject failure.
It has two lives: with poverty and misery it means the very worst degree, and with apology and surrender it means humiliating self-abasement. The Latin behind it means thrown down, which holds both senses together.
1adjectiveabjectAs wretched or as complete a failure as could be.
“He made an abject apology, begging her to forgive him.”
abject is a degree.
Latin abjectus means thrown down, from ab-, away, plus jacere, to throw.
Proto-Indo-European
*(H)yeh₁- — to throw
Latin
abiectus — abandoned; cast aside
Middle French
abject
Middle English
abiect
English, today
abject
Built from
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English abiect, abjectabiecte, abjecte, obiect, from Middle French abject (modern French abject, abjet obsolete), and from its etymon Latin abiectus (“abandoned; cast aside”), an adjective use of the perfect passive participle of abiciō (“to discard, throw away”), from ab- + iaciō (“to throw”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European (H)yeh₁- (“to throw”)). The noun is derived from the adjective. 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA