as in desperation
a feeling or belief that bad things will happen in the future; a feeling or belief that what you hope for will not happen
She has expressed pessimism over the outcome of the trial. Although the economy shows signs of improving, a sense of pessimism remains. He expressed his pessimism about politics and politicians.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
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 pessimism
Like the exceptionalism question, pollsters ask about optimism in different ways, and in most of them, including a new poll from Quinnipiac released last week, optimism beats pessimism.
—
Karlyn Bowman, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
He’s also invested his protagonist with a self-deprecating sense of humor that keeps his pessimism from veering into maudlin territory.
—Book Marks
june 27, Literary Hub, 27 June 2025
And then pessimism, uh, is actually really interesting to frame it as a self-soothing mechanism.
—Outside Online, 25 June 2025
Trump had previously discouraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from taking military action against Iran amid the talks, though the U.S. leader has also in recent days signaled growing pessimism toward the outcome of the negotiations.
—Anna Commander
tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for pessimism
Karlyn Bowman, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
He’s also invested his protagonist with a self-deprecating sense of humor that keeps his pessimism from veering into maudlin territory.
—Book Marks
june 27, Literary Hub, 27 June 2025
And then pessimism, uh, is actually really interesting to frame it as a self-soothing mechanism.
—Outside Online, 25 June 2025
Trump had previously discouraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from taking military action against Iran amid the talks, though the U.S. leader has also in recent days signaled growing pessimism toward the outcome of the negotiations.
—Anna Commander
tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for pessimism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pessimism
Noun
-
The film follows Man-su (Lee), a once-content middle-class family man who is abruptly laid off from his job, sending him into a spiral of anxiety and desperation.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Aug. 2025
-
The price paid depended on the buyer’s and seller’s bargaining skills – and desperation.—
Jay L. Zagorsky,
The Conversation,
31 July 2025
Noun
-
There were, however, occasional moments of despair rather than delight.—
Andy Mitten,
New York Times,
13 Aug. 2025
-
Not all rabbis spoke from the same ideological place, but a common thread was their effort to assert Jewish moral vocabulary in a moment of despair.—
Asaf Elia-Shalev,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
On the OpenAI community forums and Reddit, long-time chatters are expressing sorrow at losing access to models like GPT-4o.—
Ryan Whitwam,
ArsTechnica,
8 Aug. 2025
-
As images of starving children in Gaza continue to circulate and the international outcry grows louder, a number of American rabbis used their pulpits to speak up about the humanitarian crisis, some with sorrow, others with moral urgency, and many with a sense that silence was no longer tenable.—
Asaf Elia-Shalev,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
While this may be cause for near-term volatility, the July jobs report wasn’t all doom and gloom.—
Jeffrey Schulze,
Forbes.com,
6 Aug. 2025
-
But even amidst all the doom and gloom, Pattinson shines, slathering on the black eyeliner and moping around to Nirvana.—
Devan Coggan,
EW.com,
3 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Tamura suffered from depression, insomnia, migraines and lingering symptoms from a concussion from a sports injury, his mother said.—
Amanda Jackson,
CNN Money,
6 Aug. 2025
-
Forecasters upped its chances of developing into a tropical depression to a 40% shot in the next seven days and a 10% shot in the next two days, as of Tuesday morning.—
Alex Harris,
Miami Herald,
5 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
But for nearly three decades, the show has maintained a consistent posture of apocalyptic cynicism.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
7 Aug. 2025
-
Superman’s optimism was marred by a weird undercurrent of cynicism baked into the film.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
29 July 2025
Noun
-
Lacy’s new music maintains his sly sense of humor, but with a barefaced melancholy that pushes it to new emotional depths.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
14 Aug. 2025
-
More often than not, the film’s nostalgia is sweet and enjoyable because it is paired with the melancholy that comes from all the acknowledgments of the actors from the original who died over the last 29 years.—
Jesse David Fox,
Vulture,
30 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pessimism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pessimism. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share