pessimism

CEFRB2

/ˈpɛsɪmɪzəm/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The belief that bad things are likely to happen.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    The condition of being pessimal.

Examples

  • Now that pessimism prevails, the executive will abandon the project.

  • The article's tone was one of pessimism.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The doctrine that this world is the worst of all possible worlds.

  2. A general belief that bad things will happen.

More examples

In context

  • His pessimism depressed those around him.

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Her blank led her to always expect the worst possible outcome in any situation.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From French pessimisme, from Latin pessimus (“worst”) + -ism, superlative of malus (“bad”). As a doctrine, from German Pessimismus as used by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in 1819.