as in hopeless
emphasizing or expecting the worst
your defeatist attitude is depressing everyone else on the team!
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in realist
one who emphasizes bad aspects or conditions and expects the worst
we told her that if she was going to be such a defeatist, she should keep her thoughts to herself
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of defeatist
Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025
The prime minister’s far-right political allies, on the other hand, have accused the chief of staff of leading a weak and defeatist approach that is preventing victory over Hamas, the officials said.
—Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
China’s internet regulators have launched a campaign targeting online content that promotes negativity, pessimism, or defeatist attitudes and are urging netizens to report posts that violate these new standards.
—Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025
The prime minister’s far-right political allies, on the other hand, have accused the chief of staff of leading a weak and defeatist approach that is preventing victory over Hamas, the officials said.
—Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defeatist
Adjective
-
To summarize, the protagonist, lost in hopeless days, eventually stumbles upon a deserted dance hall.—
Billboard Japan,
Billboard,
17 Oct. 2025
-
The movie, which premiered in the midnights section of the Toronto International Film Festival, follows a hopeless romantic who makes a Faustian bargain to win his crush’s heart.—
Rebecca Rubin,
Variety,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
But the American leaders who midwifed the UN as World War II was still raging were somber realists, not utopians.—
Andreas Kluth,
Mercury News,
26 Sep. 2025
-
Ever the geopolitical realist, the Chinese president will know Modi’s presence at his banquet was opportunistic at best, and doesn’t indicate the start of a beautiful friendship.—
Bobby Ghosh,
Time,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
As my colleague Charlie Warzel wrote in March, on X, the White House is now a troll account, borrowing its snide visual language and tone from some of the internet’s most cynical spaces and deploying this style to mock and dehumanize people.—
Kaitlyn Tiffany,
The Atlantic,
9 Oct. 2025
-
The whole discourse was so cynical.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
On the other hand, skeptics and cynics tend to be insistent right now that the clean-up activity is not going to last very long.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
-
Travis Kelce knows what the cynics might think of his relationship with Taylor Swift — two of the most famous people in America just happen to match up perfectly?—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
12 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The discovery report recorded that the top drawer of the desk contains the provisioner’s ledger and the captain’s expedition journal, but the Danish team who found the ship were pessimistic about the likelihood of the books surviving the tow.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Oct. 2025
-
The Wine Country actress, who performed on SNL for seven seasons from 1999 to 2006, recalled the origins of her profusely pessimistic character during an interview with her former castmate Amy Poehler on Good Hang.—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Worries are particularly high about companies in the artificial-intelligence industry, where pessimists see echoes of the 2000 dot-com bubble that imploded.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
13 Oct. 2025
-
For the pessimists, Coreweave is Lucent or Nortel.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
28 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Defeatist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defeatist. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share