misery
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French miserie (modern: misère), from Latin miseria, from miser.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹɪ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: mĭzʹə-rē, mĭzʹrē, IPA(key): /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹi/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: mis‧ery
Noun
misery (countable and uncountable, plural miseries)
- Great unhappiness; extreme pain of body or mind; wretchedness; distress; woe.
- Ever since his wife left him you can see the misery on his face.
- 2008, Charlotte Bingham, The Land of Summer[1]:
- It was not just the confusion that unhappiness brings, it was not just the loneliness, it was the despair that accompanies all those emotions that turns unhappiness into utter misery.
- 1578–1579, Edmund Spenser, “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale. [...] Dedicated to the Right Honorable the Ladie Compton and Mountegle”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. Whereof the Next Page Maketh Mention[2], London: Imprinted for VVilliam Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Bishops head, published 1591, →OCLC:
- For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.
- (US and UK, dialects) A bodily ache or pain.
- 1868, John Vestal Hadley, Seven Months a Prisoner, page 15:
- [...] and I had a misery in my left breast and shoulder. I was hurt, but knew not how or how much.
- 1868, John Vestal Hadley, Seven Months a Prisoner, page 15:
- Cause of misery; calamity; misfortune.
- (Extreme) poverty.
- (archaic) greed; avarice.
Synonyms
- see Thesaurus:greed
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
great unhappiness
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cause of misery, misfortune
poverty
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Anagrams
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- en:Emotions