pessimism

pessimism
\ \ [18] The first English writer on record as using pessimism was the poet Coleridge, in the 1790s. But he employed it for the ‘worst possible state’. The modern sense ‘expecting the worst’ did not emerge until the early 19th century. The word was probably coined first in French, and was based on Latin pessimusworst’.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • 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 [ˈpesmɪst] 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

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”