Miserablist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who holds a pessimistic or negative outlook on life, emphasizing the suffering and misery inherent in the human condition
2. An individual characterized by a belief that human existence is fundamentally filled with misery and despair
3. Someone who adopts a viewpoint that life is marked by hardship and sorrow, often fostering a sense of hopelessness

Etymology: "Miserablist" is simply "miserable" with the agent suffix "-ist" attached, the same pattern that gives us "pessimist" or "fatalist." "Miserable" came into English from Old French "misérable," which in turn came from Latin "miserabilis," meaning "pitiable" or "deserving pity," from "miser," "wretched." The sense of gloom and unhappiness developed from that older idea of a person who is to be pitied. The suffix "-ist" comes from Greek "-istes," used to denote a person who practices or adheres to something, and it was carried into English through Latin and French. Attaching it to an adjective of feeling produces a label for a temperament: someone who habitually expects the worst, rather than someone who simply feels sad at the moment.

Synonyms: pessimist, gloomster, sorrowful person, dismal thinker, downcast

Antonyms: optimist, cheerful person, happy person, joyful thinker, light-hearted