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Webster 1913 Edition

Pessimism

Pes′si-mism

,

Noun.

[L.

pessimus

worst, superl. of

pejor

worse: cf. F.

pessimisme

. Cf.

.]

1.

(Metaph.)

The opinion or doctrine that everything in nature is ordered for or tends to the worst, or that the world is wholly evil; – opposed to

optimism

.

2.

A disposition to take the least hopeful view of a situation.