mis ‧ e ‧ ry S3 /ˈmɪz ə ri/ BrE AmE noun ( plural miseries )
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: miserie , from Latin miseria , from miser ; ⇨ ↑ miser ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] great suffering that is caused for example by being very poor or very sick:
What we are witnessing here is human misery on a vast scale.
the misery of unemployment
the miseries of war
2 . [uncountable and countable] great unhappiness:
She looked away so that Tom wouldn’t see her misery.
His face was a picture of sheer misery. (=great unhappiness, with no other emotion)
The news plunged him into abject misery (=extreme unhappiness) .
3 . make sb’s life a misery British English to cause so much trouble for someone that they cannot enjoy their life:
Competitive mothers can make their daughters’ lives a misery.
4 . put something/somebody out of their misery
a) informal to make someone stop feeling worried, especially by telling them something they are waiting to hear:
Go on, put them out of their misery and announce the winner.
b) to kill a sick or injured animal in order to end its suffering SYN put down :
I think you should put the poor creature out of its misery.
5 . [countable] British English spoken someone who is always complaining and never enjoys anything:
Don’t be such a misery.
What’s the matter with you, misery guts (=a name for someone like this) ?
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THESAURUS
▪ sadness a sad feeling, caused especially when a happy time is ending, or when you feel sorry about someone else’s unhappiness:
Charles felt a great sense of sadness and loss.
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I noticed a little sadness in her eyes.
▪ unhappiness the unhappy feeling you have when you are in a very difficult or unpleasant situation, especially when this lasts for a long time:
After years of unhappiness, she finally decided to leave him.
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She was a tense, nervous young woman, whose deep unhappiness was obvious to all those around her.
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You do not know how much pain and unhappiness you have caused.
▪ sorrow written the feeling of being very sad, especially because someone has died or because terrible things have happened to you:
There seemed to be nowhere to go to be alone with her sorrow.
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His heart was filled with great sorrow after her death.
▪ misery great unhappiness, caused especially by living or working in very bad conditions:
The cold weather is with us again and the misery of the homeless is increasing.
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Thousands of families were destined to a life of misery.
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The misery and pain he caused were, for him, merely a measure of his success.
▪ despair a feeling of great unhappiness, because very bad things have happened and you have no hope that anything will change:
At the end of the month, she still had no job and was tired, frustrated, and close to despair.
▪ grief great sadness that you feel when someone you love has died:
He was overcome with grief when his wife died.
▪ heartache a strong feeling of great sadness, especially because you miss someone you love:
She remembered the heartache of the first Christmas spent away from her sons.
▪ depression a mental illness that makes someone feel so unhappy that they have no energy or hope for the future, and they cannot live a normal life:
He slipped into a depression in which he hardly ate or even left his room.
▪ despondency formal a feeling of being very unhappy and without hope:
She felt useless, and this contributed to her despondency.
▪ melancholy literary a feeling of sadness, that you feel even though there is no particular reason for it:
Modigliani expressed his melancholy through his painting.