miserable
[miz-er-uh-buh l, miz-ruh-]
- wretchedly unhappy, uneasy, or uncomfortable: miserable victims of war.
- wretchedly poor; needy.
- of wretched character or quality; contemptible: a miserable villain.
- attended with or causing misery: a miserable existence.
- manifesting misery.
- worthy of pity; deplorable: a miserable failure.
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Origin of miserable
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin miserābilis, equivalent to miserā(rī) to pity (derivative of miser wretched) + -bilis -ble
Synonyms
See more synonyms for miserable on Thesaurus.com1. forlorn, disconsolate, doleful, distressed. See wretched. 2. destitute. 3. despicable, mean, low, abject. 6. pitiable, lamentable.
Antonyms
1. happy. 2. wealthy. 3. good.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for miserably
Contemporary Examples
So, miserably, he resorted to the autocue, and even this he turned into a disaster.
And, crucially, what next for these so-called lost women, for the lost girls who have been failed so miserably?
I had expected Alaska to be miserably cold, with howling winds and fierce storms.
She knew she had made the right marriage when she lost the election, miserably.
New Feminists: Young, Multicultural, Strategic, and Looking Out for Each OtherGail Sheehy
February 26, 2013
But Bennett, a religious IDF commander and self-made multimillionaire, failed us miserably on two leadership issues.
Historical Examples
Rose wrote that she was miserably unhappy with her step-mother.
DustMr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
And so the week went by miserably, and I did not tell my love.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
Two experiments which he had previously made had failed most miserably.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
I am so feeble, so miserably weak and feeble, and I want to be strong.
Henry DunbarM. E. Braddon
"Let me see," said I—and we mounted a miserably dim staircase.
miserable
- unhappy or depressed; wretched
- causing misery, discomfort, etca miserable life
- contemptiblea miserable villain
- sordid or squalidmiserable living conditions
- Scot, Australian and NZ mean; stingy
- (pejorative intensifier)you miserable wretch
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Word Origin
C16: from Old French, from Latin miserābilis worthy of pity, from miserārī to pity, from miser wretched
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for miserably
miserable
adj.
early 15c., "full of misery, causing wretchedness" (of conditions), from Old French miserable "prone to pity, merciful," and directly from Latin miserabilis "pitiable, miserable, deplorable, lamentable," from miserari "to pity, lament, deplore," from miser "wretched" (see miser). Of persons, "existing in a state of misery" it is attested from 1520s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper