misery
Americannoun
PLURAL
miseries-
wretchedness of condition or circumstances.
- Synonyms:
- trial , tribulation , suffering
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distress or suffering caused by need, privation, or poverty.
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great mental or emotional distress; extreme unhappiness.
- Synonyms:
- desolation , torment , woe , anguish , grief
- Antonyms:
- happiness
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a cause or source of distress.
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Older Use.
-
a pain.
a misery in my left side.
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Often miseries. a case or period of despondency or gloom.
-
noun
-
intense unhappiness, discomfort, or suffering; wretchedness
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a cause of such unhappiness, discomfort, etc
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squalid or poverty-stricken conditions
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informal a person who is habitually depressed
he is such a misery
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dialect a pain or ailment
Related Words
See sorrow.
Etymology
Origin of misery
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English miserie, from Latin miseria, equivalent to miser “wretched” + -ia -y 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Liverpool's misery was compounded in farcical fashion in the 73rd minute.
From Barron's
“The failure to do that is inexcusable and it contributes to a lot of misery,” Gleick said.
From Los Angeles Times
Once projected to go early in the first round, Sanders had to wait until the draft’s third day before the Browns put him out of his misery by selecting him with the No. 144 selection.
Not a single eyebrow would have been raised inside Anfield had he been put out of his misery at half-time.
From BBC
The games, the tedium, the comfort of nostalgia, the sting and fury of old resentments: It’s an experience of mirth and misery alike.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
