Word origins - 2ed. J. Ayto. 2005.
Pessimism — • Term applied in popular language to persons who habitually take a melancholy view of life; or in philosophy, to a system that attempts to account for the presence of evil in the world. Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Pessimism … Catholic encyclopedia
Pessimism — Pes si*mism, n. [L. pessimus worst, superl. of pejor worse: cf. F. pessimisme. Cf. {Impair}.] 1. (Metaph.) The opinion or doctrine that everything in nature is ordered for or tends to the worst, or that the world is wholly evil; opposed to… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
pessimism — I noun blighted hope, cheerlessness, cynicism, dashed hopes, defeatism, dejectedness, dejection, depression, despair, desperation, despondence, despondency, disconsolation, discouragement, disheartenment, dispiritedness, dolefulness, downcastness … Law dictionary
pessimism — 1794 worst condition possible, borrowed (by Coleridge) from Fr. pessimisme, formed (on model of Fr. optimisme) from L. pessimus worst, originally bottom most, from PIE *ped samo , superlative of root *pes foot (see FOOT (Cf. foot)). As a name… … Etymology dictionary
pessimism — [n] belief in bad outcome cynicism, dark side*, dejection, depression, despair, despondency, dim view*, distrust, dyspepsia, expectation of worst, gloom, gloominess, gloomy outlook, glumness, grief, hopelessness, low spirits, melancholy, sadness … New thesaurus
pessimism — ► NOUN 1) lack of hope or confidence in the future. 2) Philosophy a belief that this world is as bad as it could be or that evil will ultimately prevail over good. DERIVATIVES pessimist noun pessimistic adjective pessimistically adverb. ORIGIN… … English terms dictionary
pessimism — [pes′ə miz΄əm] n. [Fr pessimisme < L pessimus, worst, superl. of pejor, worse: see PEJORATIVE] 1. Philos. a) the doctrine or belief that the existing world is the worst possible b) the doctrine or belief that the evil in life outweighs the… … English World dictionary
Pessimism — Is the glass half empty or half full? The pessimist would pick half empty, while the optimist would choose half full. Pessimism, from the Latin word pessimus (worst), is a state of mind in which one perceives life negatively. Value judgments may… … Wikipedia
pessimism — pessimist pes‧si‧mist [ˈpesmɪst] noun [countable] someone who always expects that things will get worse or that bad things will happen in the future: • Pessimists are predicting a downturn in the economy. opposite optimist pessimistic adjective… … Financial and business terms
pessimism — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ deep, widespread ▪ the widespread pessimism among young people today ▪ undue ▪ He warned against the dangers of undue pessimism. VERB + PESSIMISM … Collocations dictionary
pessimism — n. 1) to display pessimism 2) to overcome pessimism 3) pessimism about, at, over * * * at over to display pessimism to overcome pessimism pessimism about … Combinatory dictionary
