pessimistic

English

Etymology

From pessimist +‎ -ic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɛ.səˈmɪs.tɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstɪk

Adjective

pessimistic (comparative more pessimistic, superlative most pessimistic)

1. Marked by pessimism and little hopefulness; expecting the worst.

   a pessimistic view of the future

2. Pertaining to the worst-case scenario.

   a pessimistic estimate

   • 1996, George Thomas Kurian, Graham Thomas Tate Molitor, Encyclopedia of the future, volume 1, page 212:

     However pessimistic their predictions, most scientists and scholars who warn of impending disaster are really acting from antidystopian motives.

3. (computing) Taking out exclusive locks on data to prevent conflicts with other processes that might modify it.

   pessimistic concurrency; pessimistic locking

Antonyms

• optimistic

Derived terms

• pessimistic time

 

Related terms

• pessimal
• pessimism
• pessimist

Translations

marked by pessimism and little hopefulness

• Arabic: مُتَشَائِم (mutašāʔim)
• Armenian: հոռետեսական (hy) (hoṙetesakan)
• Belarusian: песімісты́чны (pjesimistýčny)
• Bulgarian: песимисти́чен (bg) (pesimistíčen)
• Catalan: pessimista (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 悲觀／悲观 (bei¹ gun¹)

  Mandarin: 悲觀的／悲观的 (zh) (bēiguān de)

• Czech: pesimistický (cs)
• Danish: pessimistisk
• Finnish: pessimistinen (fi), synkkä (fi)
• French: pessimiste (fr)
• Galician: pesimista
• German: pessimistisch (de)
• Greek: πεσιμιστικός (el) (pesimistikós), απαισιόδοξος (el) (apaisiódoxos)
• Hungarian: pesszimisztikus (hu), pesszimista (hu)
• Icelandic: svartsýnn, bölsýnn
• Indonesian: pesimistis (id)
• Italian: pessimista (it), pessimistico (it)
• Japanese: 悲観的 (ja) (ひかんてき, hikanteki)
• Korean: 비관적 (bigwanjeok)
• Maori: (ngākau) hākerekere
• Norwegian: pessimistisk
• Plautdietsch: dunkelsiedich
• Polish: pesymistyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: pessimista (pt)
• Russian: пессимисти́чный (ru) (pessimistíčnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: песимистичан

  Roman: pesimističan (sh)

• Slovak: pesimistický
• Spanish: pesimista (es), agorero (es)
• Swedish: pessimistisk (sv)
• Thai: มองโลกในแง่ร้าย
• Turkish: pesimist (tr), karamsar (tr)
• Ukrainian: песимісти́чний (pesymistýčnyj)
• Volapük: badimik (vo)

always expecting the worst

• Arabic: مُتَشَائِم (mutašāʔim)
• Armenian: հոռետեսական (hy) (hoṙetesakan)
• Catalan: pessimista (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 悲觀的／悲观的 (zh) (bēiguān de)

• Finnish: pessimistinen (fi), synkkämielinen
• French: pessimiste (fr)
• Galician: pesimista
• German: pessimistisch (de)
• Hungarian: pesszimista (hu), borúlátó (hu)
• Indonesian: pesimistis (id)
• Japanese: 悲観的 (ja) (ひかんてき, hikanteki)
• Norwegian: pessimistisk
• Persian: بدبین (fa), بد بینانه
• Plautdietsch: dunkelsiedich
• Portuguese: pessimista (pt)
• Russian: пессимисти́чный (ru) (pessimistíčnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: песимистичан

  Roman: pesimističan (sh)

• Spanish: pesimista (es)
• Swedish: pessimistisk (sv)
• Thai: มองโลกในแง่ร้าย
• Turkish: kötümser (tr)
• Volapük: badimik (vo)