MISERABLE


Meaning of MISERABLE in English

mis ‧ e ‧ ra ‧ ble /ˈmɪz ə rəb ə l/ BrE AmE adjective

[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: Latin miserabilis , from miser ; ⇨ ↑ miser ]

1 . extremely unhappy, for example because you feel lonely, cold, or badly treated:

I’ve been so miserable since Pat left me.

I spent the weekend feeling miserable.

Jan looks really miserable.

Why do you make yourself miserable by taking on too much work?

as miserable as sin British English (=very miserable)

2 . especially British English always bad-tempered, ↑ dissatisfied , or complaining:

He’s a miserable old devil.

3 . [usually before noun] making you feel very unhappy, uncomfortable etc:

They endured hours of backbreaking work in miserable conditions.

Mosquito bites can make life miserable.

4 . miserable weather is cold and dull, with no sun shining:

It was a miserable grey day.

two weeks of miserable weather

5 . [only before noun] very small in amount, or very bad in quality:

I can hardly afford the rent on my miserable income.

The team gave a miserable performance.

6 . miserable failure British English a complete failure:

Her attempts to learn to drive had been a miserable failure.

—miserably adverb :

I failed miserably in my duty to protect her.

• • •

THESAURUS

■ very sad

▪ miserable very sad, especially because you are lonely, cold, ill, or upset – used about people and periods of time:

I felt miserable and blamed myself for what had happened.

|

Her life was miserable.

|

I had a miserable time at college.

▪ depressed very sad and without hope for a long time, because things are wrong in your life or because of a medical condition:

After his wife left him, he became depressed and refused to talk to anyone.

▪ heartbroken extremely sad because of something that has happened to someone or something that you care about very much:

She was heartbroken when her dog died.

▪ distressed/distraught very upset because of something bad that has happened, so that you cannot think clearly:

She was very distressed when he left her.

|

The boy’s hospital bed was surrounded by distraught relatives.

▪ devastated [not before noun] extremely sad and shocked, because something very bad has happened:

The whole town was devastated by the tragedy.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.