misery

[ miz-uh-ree ]

noun

, plural mis·er·ies.

1. wretchedness of condition or circumstances.

   Synonyms: trial, tribulation, suffering

2. distress or suffering caused by need, privation, or poverty.
3. great mental or emotional distress; extreme unhappiness.

   Synonyms: desolation, torment, woe, anguish, grief

   Antonyms: happiness

4. a cause or source of distress.
5. Older Use.
   1. a pain:

      a misery in my left side.

   2. rheumatism.
   3. Often miseries. a case or period of despondency or gloom.

misery

/ ˈmɪzərɪ /

noun

1. intense unhappiness, discomfort, or suffering; wretchedness
2. a cause of such unhappiness, discomfort, etc
3. squalid or poverty-stricken conditions
4. informal.
   a person who is habitually depressed

   he is such a misery

5. dialect.
   a pain or ailment

Word History and Origins

Origin of misery¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English miserie, from Latin miseria, equivalent to miser “wretched” + -ia -y ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of misery¹

C14: via Anglo-Norman from Latin miseria, from miser wretched

Idioms and Phrases

In addition to the idiom beginning with misery , also see put someone out of his or her misery .

Synonym Study

See sorrow.

Example Sentences

It took years of accumulated misery around mirrors to make me quit pie.

From Washington Post

It was miserable, but the level of misery made it more memorable.

From Washington Post

The trillion-dollar gap between actual GDP and potential GDP is a gap made up of misery, unemployment, and unfulfilled promise.

From Axios

His misery over the loss of his son, Eddy — a talented guitarist who overdosed on heroin — never subsided.

From Washington Post

For others, an active infection may spell misery for months.

From Fortune

There are no moratoriums on the Internet, least of all for news of human misery.

From The Daily Beast

Every possible outcome—them together, them staying with their existing partners—seems only likely to bring misery.

From The Daily Beast

Has she been doomed by the science of 2014 to a life of sexual misery?

From The Daily Beast

“I think religion in general is the source of most human misery,” he says.

From The Daily Beast

It breaks up families, burns hope, and perpetuates cycles of misery.

From The Daily Beast

In the year of misery, of agony and suffering in general he had endured, he had settled upon one theory.

From Project Gutenberg

From this one source of misery, where was a promise or a chance of a final rescue?

From Project Gutenberg

Consequently there is so universal misery that no words could exaggerate it to your Majesty.

From Project Gutenberg

The darkness, or rather the general misapprehension, which prevails on this subject, is a frightful source of disease and misery.

From Project Gutenberg

The years that followed the close of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 were in many senses years of unexampled misery.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• agony
• anguish
• despair
• discomfort
• gloom
• grief
• hardship
• headache
• heartache
• passion
• sadness
• sorrow
• squalor
• suffering
• torment
• torture
• woe
• worry