misery

B1 Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹi/ UK /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹɪ/ See IPA manual

Freq #4680

Meanings

1

noun
A feeling of deep unhappiness and suffering.

Losing his job and his home left him in complete misery.
2

noun
A state of great hardship caused by poverty or misfortune.

The misery of the slums was hard to witness.
3

noun
Something that causes great unhappiness or trouble.

The long delays at the airport were a real misery.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a feeling of deep... distress dejection despondency grief wretchedness

2 noun · a state of great hardship... wretchedness hardship affliction adversity

3 noun · something that causes great... affliction hardship sorrow

Word family

Forms miseries

Derived forms miseryguts

Related forms commiserate miser miserable

Appears in

Proverbs (1)

See all

Misery loves company

Simplified etymology

Misery entered English through French from Latin miser, “wretched.” The same Latin source also gave English miser.

Etymology

From Middle English miserie, from Old French miserie (modern: misère), from Latin miseria, from miser, equivalent to miser + -y. Doublet of misère and mizeria.

miserie Middle English miseria Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings

External links

# misery

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹi/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹɪ/
**Frequency rank:** 4680

## Meanings
1. A feeling of deep unhappiness and suffering.
2. A state of great hardship caused by poverty or misfortune.
3. Something that causes great unhappiness or trouble.

## Examples
- Losing his job and his home left him in complete misery.
- The misery of the slums was hard to witness.
- The long delays at the airport were a real misery.

## Derived Forms
- miseryguts

## Related Forms
- commiserate
- miser
- miserable

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: miserie
- Root: miseria

## Etymology
From Middle English miserie, from Old French miserie (modern: misère), from Latin miseria, from miser, equivalent to miser + -y. Doublet of misère and mizeria.

## AI Etymology
Misery comes from Middle English miserie, from Old French miserie (modern: misère), from Latin miseria, from miser, equivalent to miser + -y. Doublet of misère and mizeria. In present-day English its meanings include a feeling of deep unhappiness and suffering, a state of great hardship caused by poverty or misfortune, and something that causes great unhappiness or trouble. The historical chain runs through miserie (Middle English), miserie (Old French), and miseria (Latin). Related and derived forms include commiserate, miser, miserable, and miseryguts.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

markdown