Misery Meaning
/ˈmɪz(ə)ɹɪ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounGreat unhappiness; extreme pain of body or mind; wretchedness; distress; woe.
nounA bodily ache or pain.
Sentence Examples
In her misery, Mary looked to her husband for help.
The family lived in the depths of misery.
Fame brought her nothing but misery.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The long drought caused great ____ for many poor farming families.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ongoing conflict has caused untold ____ to thousands of innocent families who have lost their homes and their livelihoods.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English miserie, from Old French miserie (modern: misère), from Latin miseria, from miser, equivalent to miser + -y. Doublet of misère and mizeria.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne."
— 1578–1579, Edmund Spenser, “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale. [...] Dedicated to the Right Honorable the Ladie Compton and Mountegle”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. Whereof the Next Page Maketh Mention, London: Imprinted for VVilliam Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Bishops head, published 1591, →OCLC:
"It was not just the confusion that unhappiness brings, it was not just the loneliness, it was the despair that accompanies all those emotions that turns unhappiness into utter misery."
— 2008, Charlotte Bingham, The Land of Summer:
"Then, in January, a creeping tsunami of train cancellations, triggered by major staff absences as a result of the aggressive transmissibility of Omicron, heaped further misery on rail users."
— 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:
"[...] and I had a misery in my left breast and shoulder. I was hurt, but knew not how or how much."
— 1868, John Vestal Hadley, Seven Months a Prisoner, page 15:
"The Widdow that hath but a pan of braſſe, […]
Muſt pay her Landlord many a groat,
Or twil be puld out of her throat: […]
The rich haue all, the poore liue in miſerie: […]"
— 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The long drought caused great ____ for many poor farming families.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ongoing conflict has caused untold ____ to thousands of innocent families who have lost their homes and their livelihoods.