English

Alternative forms

• miserablism

Noun

miserabilism ‎(uncountable)

1. A tendency to take a miserable or pessimistic view on life; a consistently miserable outlook, negativity.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 267:

     Parlementary ideas invariably evinced that most thoroughgoing national miserabilism which had impressed poor Damiens [...].

   • 2009 May 15, Manohla Dargis, “A Less Crowded Cannes, and Perhaps a Silver Lining”, in New York Times:

     A beautiful-looking slice of British miserabilism, “Fish Tank” traces what happens to a 15-year-old (Katie Jarvis) when her mother’s boyfriend moves into the family’s cramped flat, a story that can be summed up by the lyrics, sung by Nas, that portentously bring the accumulated bleak moments to a close: “Life’s a bitch and then you die.”