pessimist

noun

pes·​si·​mist ˈpe-sə-mist 

 also  ˈpe-zə-

plural pessimists

: a person who is inclined to expect poor outcomes : someone who is given to pessimism

… such was the success of the first venture that many must now be optimistic where most were pessimists at the beginning of the year and for several years before.

—Francis Byrne

For pessimists, the heavens offer a host of doomsday scenarios—an asteroid crashing into Earth or deadly cosmic rays raining down on the planet.

—R. Cowen

Synonyms

• cynic
• realist

Examples of pessimist in a Sentence

she's such a pessimist that she's convinced she'll fail every test

a true pessimist, he's convinced that there will be wars as long as there are people to wage them

Recent Examples on the Web

Optimists showed greater differences in neural patterns when thinking of positive events versus negative events, compared to pessimists. —Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 July 2025

The researchers also found that optimistic people showed bigger differences between brain patterns for emotionally positive and negative events than pessimists did. —Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 21 July 2025

To the pessimists among them, Hollywood’s most personal profession has lost its human touch. —Nate Jones, Vulture, 6 June 2025

But even pessimists were shocked by how aggressively the new team in Washington shook things up. —Gideon Rose, Foreign Affairs, 23 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

pessim(ism) + -ist entry 1, after French pessimiste

First Known Use

1789, in the meaning defined above