Miserable

/ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/ · adjective

Meaning

In a state of misery: very sad, ill, or poor..

Definitions by Sense

1. In a state of misery: very sad, ill, or poor.
2. Very bad (at something); unskilled, incompetent; hopeless.
3. Of the weather, extremely unpleasant due to being cold, wet, overcast, etc.
4. Wretched; worthless; mean; contemptible.
5. (obsolete) Causing unhappiness or misery.
6. (obsolete) Avaricious; niggardly; miserly.
7. (as a personality trait) Negative minded, unpleasant to be around.
8. A miserable person; a wretch.

Example Sentences

Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.

The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation, because occupation means pre-occupation

He's good at some sports, like tennis, but he's just miserable at football.

a miserable sinner

In a month's collecting at Wonosalem and Djapannan I accumulated ninety-eight species of birds, but a most miserable lot of insects.

For what's more miserable than discontent?

the liberal-hearted man is by the opinion of the prodigal miserable, and by the judgment of the miserable lavish

Synonyms for miserable

Antonyms for miserable

Related Words

Word Forms

• more miserable
• most miserable
• miserables

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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