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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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

No wonder our forefathers described their so-called political economy as a dismal science, for never was there a pessimism blacker, a hopelessness more hopeless than it preached.

From Equality by Bellamy, Edward

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