pessimism - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pes·si·mism

Audio Help [pes-uh-miz-uh

m] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	the tendency to see, anticipate, or emphasize only bad or undesirable outcomes, results, conditions, problems, etc.: His pessimism about the future of our country depresses me.

2.	the doctrine that the existing world is the worst of all possible worlds, or that all things naturally tend to evil.

3.	the belief that the evil and pain in the world are not compensated for by goodness and happiness.

[Origin: 1785–95; < L pessim(us), suppletive superl. of malus bad + -ism; modeled on optimism

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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pessimism

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pes·si·mism Audio Help (pěs'ə-mĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n.

A tendency to stress the negative or unfavorable or to take the gloomiest possible view: "We have seen too much defeatism, too much pessimism, too much of a negative approach" (Margo Jones).
The doctrine or belief that this is the worst of all possible worlds and that all things ultimately tend toward evil.
The doctrine or belief that the evil in the world outweighs the good.

[French pessimisme (on the model of optimisme, optimism), from Latin pessimus, worst; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]

pes'si·mist n., pes'si·mis'tic adj., pes'si·mis'ti·cal·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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-, superl. of base *pes- "foot" (see foot). As a name given to the doctrines of Schopenhauer, Hartmann, etc., that this is the worst possible world, or that everything tends toward evil, it is first recorded 1878, from Ger. pessimismus (Schopenhauer, 1819). Pessimist "one who habitually expects the worst" is first recorded 1836, from Fr. pessimiste; pessimistic formed in Eng. 1868.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

pessimism
noun
1.	the feeling that things will turn out badly [ant: optimism]
2.	a general disposition to look on the dark side and to expect the worst in all things [ant: optimism]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pessimism [ˈpesimizəm] noun

the state of mind of a person who always expects bad things to happen

Arabic:	تَشاؤُم
Chinese (Simplified):	悲观，悲观主义
Chinese (Traditional):	悲觀，悲觀主義
Czech:	pesimismus
Danish:	pessimisme
Dutch:	pessimisme
Estonian:	pessimism
Finnish:	pessimismi
French:	pessimisme
German:	der Pessimismus
Greek:	απαισιοδοξία
Hungarian:	pesszimizmus
Icelandic:	svartsÿni
Indonesian:	pesimisme
Italian:	pessimismo

Japanese:	悲観主義
Korean:	비관
Latvian:	pesimisms
Lithuanian:	pesimizmas
Norwegian:	pessimisme
Polish:	pesymizm
Portuguese (Brazil):	pessimismo
Portuguese (Portugal):	pessimismo
Romanian:	pesimism
Russian:	пессимизм
Slovak:	pesimizmus
Slovenian:	pesimizem
Spanish:	pesimismo
Swedish:	pessimism
Turkish:	kötümserlik

See also: pessimist, "pessimism" in any language

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pessimism

Op"ti*mism\, n. [L. optimus the best; akin to optio choice: cf. F. optimisme. See Option.]

1. (Metaph.) The opinion or doctrine that everything in nature, being the work of God, is ordered for the best, or that the ordering of things in the universe is such as to produce the highest good.

2. A disposition to take the most hopeful view; -- opposed to pessimism.

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