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dismal science

British  

noun

  1. a name for economics coined by Thomas Carlyle

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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Perhaps, with new technologies and methods of analysis, they can become even rarer, enabling economics to shed the image of a dismal science.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 5, 2026

If economics can be called the dismal science, I’d argue that eugenics might be called the narcissistic one.

From Slate Mar. 19, 2026

If economics is "the dismal science," should we start calling polling "the abysmal science"?

From Salon Jan. 8, 2023

You'd think in the 21st century, practitioners of the dismal science would have found some way to control inflation other than putting people out of work.

From Reuters Nov. 17, 2022

But even he who has read only thus far must know that political economy is no cold-blooded or dismal science, as people say.

From Political economy by W. Stanley Jevons

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