misery index

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noun

an unofficial indication of a nation's economic health, derived by adding the percentage rate of inflation to the percentage of unemployed workers: With inflation running at 15 percent and unemployment at 8 percent, the misery index is 23 percent.

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Origin of misery index

First recorded in 1975–80

Words nearby misery index

misère, Miserere, misericord, miserly, misery, misery index, Misery loves company, misesteem, misestimate, misfeasance, misfeasor

How to use misery index in a sentence

There are no moratoriums on the Internet, least of all for news of human misery.
The Monsters Who Screamed for Dead Cops|Jacob Siegel|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A helpful pictorial index provides photographs of the actual objects.
The Best Coffee Table Books of 2014|Robert Birnbaum|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There is an expanded place-name index with more than 150,000 entries, and separate undersea, Moon, and Mars features.
The Best Coffee Table Books of 2014|Robert Birnbaum|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Every possible outcome—them together, them staying with their existing partners—seems only likely to bring misery.
How Will They End ‘The Affair’? Showtime’s Adultery Drama Defies Predictability|Tim Teeman|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Has she been doomed by the science of 2014 to a life of sexual misery?
Was 2014 the Year Science Discovered The Female Orgasm?|Samantha Allen|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the year of misery, of agony and suffering in general he had endured, he had settled upon one theory.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
From this one source of misery, where was a promise or a chance of a final rescue?
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
Consequently there is so universal misery that no words could exaggerate it to your Majesty.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various
The darkness, or rather the general misapprehension, which prevails on this subject, is a frightful source of disease and misery.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
The years that followed the close of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 were in many senses years of unexampled misery.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock