miserabilist

English

WOTD – 30 June 2012

Alternative forms

• miserablist

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪzəɹəbəlɪst/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (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^[1]:

     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^[2]:

     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-).

Related terms

• miserablism
• miserabilism
• miserablist

Translations

one who extols being miserable

• Finnish: synkistelijä
• French: misérabiliste (fr)
• Swedish: dysterkvist (sv) c

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.