Word.ws English Dictionary

miserabilism

UK/ˈmɪzɹəbəlɪz(ə)m/

miserabilism noun: a tendency to take a miserable or pessimistic view on life; a consistently miserable outlook, negativity.

Noun

miserabilism (uncountable)

  1. A tendency to take a miserable or pessimistic view on life; a consistently miserable outlook, negativity.
    • Parlementary ideas invariably evinced that most thoroughgoing national miserabilism which had impressed poor Damiens [...].2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 267
    • A beautiful-looking slice of British miserabilism, “Fish Tank” traces what happens to a 15-year-old (Katie Jarvis) when her mother’s boyfriend moves into the family’s cramped flat, a story that can be summed up by the lyrics, sung by Nas, that portentously bring the accumulated bleak moments to a...2009 May 15, Manohla Dargis, “A Less Crowded Cannes, and Perhaps a Silver Lining”, in New York Times

Examples of miserabilism in a sentence

  • But this has never justified giving in to miserabilism about life offline.2021, Eliot Higgins, We Are Bellingcat, page 147:
  • The term “performative miserabilism” has been coined to explain France’s confusing penchant towards self-cynicism.2023 May 1, Alexander Hurst, “Has France really gone to hell? Its catastrophist discourse is at odds with the facts”, in The Guardian...
  • Can the Labour conference, which opens on Sunday in Liverpool, expect a further deluge of miserabilism or will he have some more optimistic things to say to his party and to the public?2024 September 21, Andrew Rawnsley, Toby Helm, “‘We have done more in 11 weeks than the Tories did in 11 years’: Keir Starmer defends his...

Forms of miserabilism

alternative formmiserablism

Origin of miserabilism

From German Miserabilismus, French misérabilisme, corresponding to miserable + -ism.

Questions about miserabilism

What does miserabilism mean?
Miserabilism means a tendency to take a miserable or pessimistic view on life; a consistently miserable outlook, negativity.
How do you use miserabilism in a sentence?
But this has never justified giving in to miserabilism about life offline.
What part of speech is miserabilism?
Miserabilism is a noun.
How do you pronounce miserabilism?
Miserabilism is pronounced /ˈmɪzɹəbəlɪz(ə)m/ (UK).

Words near miserabilism in the dictionary

  1. misequalize
  2. misequalized
  3. misequalizes
  4. misequalizing
  5. miser
  6. miserabilism
  7. miserabilist
  8. miserabilistic
  9. miserabilists
  10. miserability
  11. miserable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: miserabilism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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