miserabilist

English

WOTD – 30 June 2012

Alternative forms

Etymology

Variant of miserable + -ist, with interconsonant -i- added due to difficulty or lack of flow in pronouncing miserablist.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɪzəɹəbəlɪst/
    • (file)

Noun

miserabilist (plural miserabilists)

  1. One who is unhappy, or extols being miserable as a virtue; a philosopher of pessimism.
    Synonyms: buzzkill, killjoy, spoilsport; see also Thesaurus:spoilsport
    • 1991, Anthony Powell, Under review: further writings on writers, 1946-1989, page 242:
      Gissing is never more of a miserabilist than when trying to be light-hearted.
    • 2006, Iain Sinclair, London: city of disappearances, page 314:
      An old, failed actor who lived on his own, he never had friends dropping by, because he was a bedridden inconsiderate miserabilist.
    • 2009 February 7, Lucy Mangan, “Lucy Mangan: This week”, in The Guardian:
      The former Smiths singer, professional miserabilist, vegetarian and gladioli-distributor has posed nude for the inner sleeve artwork for his new single, Heaven Knows I'm Naked Now.
    • 2021 November 21, Oliver Milman, quoting Catherine Fieschi, “Climate denial is waning on the right. What’s replacing it might be just as scary”, in The Guardian:
      She said center-right French politicians have started disparaging climate activists as “miserabilists”, []

Usage notes

Also appears as variant miserablist (without interconsonantal -i-), but this latter is less common; likewise miserabilism (with -i-) is more common than miserablism (without -i-).

Translations

Adjective

miserabilist (comparative more miserabilist, superlative most miserabilist)

  1. Miserable, pessimistic.
    • 2014, Doru Pop, Romanian New Wave Cinema: An Introduction, McFarland, →ISBN, page 61:
      This is a radical difference between the naturalism of the miserabilist approach, and the naturalism practiced by the Romanian New Wave.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.