pessimism
/ˈpɛsɪmɪzəm/ noun
Forms pessimisms
- noun A general belief that bad things will happen.
- noun The doctrine that this world is the worst of all possible worlds.
- noun (computing) The condition of being pessimal.
Antonyms
Etymology
From French pessimisme, from Latin pessimus (“worst”) + -ism, superlative of malus (“bad”).
As a doctrine, from German Pessimismus as used by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in 1819.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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 Ant: optimism.
- noun A disposition to take the least hopeful view of things.
Etymology [L. pessimus worst, superl. of pejor worse: cf. F. pessimisme. Cf. Impair.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pessimism”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details