pessimism

pes·si·mism

Use pessimism in a sentence

He sees the glass as half empty instead of half full because of his pessimism.

noun

Pessimism is a belief that things are mostly bad.

An example of pessimism is seeing a glass as half empty instead of optimism when the glass is seen as half full.

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pessimism

Philos.
1. the doctrine or belief that the existing world is the worst possible
2. the doctrine or belief that the evil in life outweighs the good
the tendency to expect misfortune or the worst outcome in any circumstances; practice of looking on the dark side of things

Origin of pessimism

French pessimisme from Classical Latin pessimus, worst, superlative of pejor, worse: see pejorative

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"Pessimism." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Pessimism.

APA Style

Pessimism. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Pessimism

pessimism

noun

A tendency to stress the negative or unfavorable or to take the gloomiest possible view: “We have seen too much defeatism, too much pessimism, too much of a negative approach” ( Margo Jones )
The doctrine or belief that this is the worst of all possible worlds and that all things ultimately tend toward evil.
The doctrine or belief that the evil in the world outweighs the good.

Origin of pessimism

French pessimisme ( on the model of optimisme optimism ) from Latin pessimus worst ; see ped- in Indo-European roots.

Related Forms:

pes′si·mist
noun

pes′si·mis′tic
adjective

pes′si·mis′ti·cal·ly
adverb

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.