noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Someone who habitually expects the worst outcome; one who looks on the dark side of things.

   "I will not marry a pessimist, a born loser, a fellow who has no fight in him."

2. 2
   a person who expects the worst wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

naysayerpessimisticcalamity howlercassandracrepehangercynic

Antonyms

All antonyms

optimist

Example

More examples

"The optimist looks into a mirror and becomes more optimistic, the pessimist more pessimistic."

Etymology

From French pessimiste, from Latin pessimus (“worst”) + -ist.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.