Dictionary

miserabilism en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɪzɹəbəlɪz(ə)m/ (UK)

Etymology

From German Miserabilismus, French misérabilisme, corresponding to miserable + -ism.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A tendency to take a miserable or pessimistic view on life; a consistently miserable outlook, negativity.
   • A beautiful-looking slice of British miserabilism, “Fish Tank” traces what happens to a 15-year-old (Katie Jarvis) when her mother’s boyfriend moves into the family’s cramped flat, a story that can be summed up by the lyrics, sung by Nas, that portentously bring the accumulated bleak moments to a close: “Life’s a bitch and then you die.” 2009 May 15, Manohla Dargis, “A Less Crowded Cannes, and Perhaps a Silver Lining”, in New York Times:
   • The term “performative miserabilism” has been coined to explain France’s confusing penchant towards self-cynicism. 2023 May 1, Alexander Hurst, “Has France really gone to hell? Its catastrophist discourse is at odds with the facts”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • Nobody will ever 'fix' the internet, just as nobody will ever fix the world. But this has never justified giving in to miserabilism about life offline. 2021, Eliot Higgins, We Are Bellingcat, page 147:
   • Since he arrived there, he’s delivered a lot of words about the direness of the inheritance from the Tories and accompanied this with the warning that things are going to get worse before they get better. Can the Labour conference, which opens on Sunday in Liverpool, expect a further deluge of miserabilism or will he have some more optimistic things to say to his party and to the public? 2024 September 21, Andrew Rawnsley, Toby Helm, “‘We have done more in 11 weeks than the Tories did in 11 years’: Keir Starmer defends his record”, in The Guardian:
   • Parlementary ideas invariably evinced that most thoroughgoing national miserabilism which had impressed poor Damiens [...]. 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 267:

Forms