Pronunciations (2)
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/ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/
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ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl
Adjective
In a state of misery: very sad, ill, or poor.
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Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.
The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation, because occupation means pre-occupation
Very bad (at something); unskilled, incompetent; hopeless.
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He's good at some sports, like tennis, but he's just miserable at football.
Of the weather, extremely unpleasant due to being cold, wet, overcast, etc.
Wretched; worthless; mean; contemptible.
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a miserable sinner
In a month's collecting at Wonosalem and Djapannan I accumulated ninety-eight species of birds, but a most miserable lot of insects.
Causing unhappiness or misery.
Usage- Obsolete
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For what's more miserable than discontent?
Avaricious; niggardly; miserly.
Usage- Obsolete
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the liberal-hearted man is by the opinion of the prodigal miserable, and by the judgment of the miserable lavish
Negative minded, unpleasant to be around.
Usage- as a personality trait
Noun
A miserable person; a wretch.
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Dona Carmen repaired to the balcony to chat and jest with, and at, these miserables, who stopped before the door to rest in their progress. All pretended poverty while literally groaning under the weight of their riches.
The charge that those who played Jesus in these representations were treated badly by the plays' Jews and Romans left one commissioner cold: in his view, these miserables were beaten much less severely by the players than they were by their actual lords or curacas.
A state of misery or melancholy.
Usage- in-plural
- Informal
- with-definite-article
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By 3:00 P.M. both DeeDee and Sandra's pants were thoroughly soaked, and this unhappy circumstance gave DeeDee a bad case of the miserables.
Adjective
very unhappy; full of misery
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he felt depressed and miserable
a message of hope for suffering humanity
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wretched prisoners huddled in stinking cages
deserving or inciting pity
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a hapless victim
miserable victims of war
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piteous appeals for help
pitiable homeless children
a pitiful fate
Oh, you poor thing
his poor distorted limbs
a wretched life
of the most contemptible kind
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abject cowardice
a low stunt to pull
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a low-down sneak
his miserable treatment of his family
You miserable skunk!
a scummy rabble
a scurvy trick
of very poor quality or condition
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deplorable housing conditions in the inner city
woeful treatment of the accused
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woeful errors of judgment
characterized by physical misery
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a wet miserable weekend
spent a wretched night on the floor
contemptibly small in amount
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a measly tip
the company donated a miserable $100 for flood relief
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a paltry wage
almost depleted his miserable store of dried beans