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pessimism

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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From French pessimisme, from Latin pessimus (worst) +‎ -ism, superlative of malus (bad). As a doctrine, from German Pessimismus as used by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in 1819.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pessimism (usually uncountable, plural pessimisms)

  1. A general belief that bad things will happen.
    Hyponym: declinism
    • 2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in The Guardian[1]:
      T2 isn’t as good as T1: it is a little too long and unwinds a bit into caper sentimentality, broad comedy and self-mythologising. But it has the same punchy energy, the same defiant pessimism, and there’s nothing around like it. This sequel was a high-wire act, but Boyle has made it to the other side.
  2. The doctrine that this world is the worst of all possible worlds.
  3. (computing) The condition of being pessimal.

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Swedish

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Noun

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pessimism c

  1. pessimism; a general belief that bad things will happen
    Antonym: optimism

Declension

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Declension of pessimism
nominative genitive
singular indefinite pessimism pessimisms
definite pessimismen pessimismens
plural indefinite
definite
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References

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