misery

Everyday

1. Great unhappiness or suffering, in body or mind. tree →
2. Very poor and hard living conditions: «they lived in misery». tree →
3. (UK, informal) A person who is always grumpy and complaining: «Don't be such a misery!» tree →
4. (idioms) «make someone's life a misery» (keep upsetting them); «put an animal out of its misery» (kill it kindly to end its suffering); «put someone out of their misery» (tell them news they are anxious to hear). tree →

In the lessons

In stories, misery describes deep sadness, loss or hard lives, like Victorian children working in factories. In everyday life people use it for small troubles jokingly: «the misery of Monday mornings». In history, war and poverty caused great misery. Phrases: «a life of misery», «misery guts» (UK, informal grumpy person), «make life a misery».

Examples

• The war brought misery to millions of people. tree →
• The bully made her life a misery. tree →
• Don't be such a misery – come and play! tree →
• Come on, put me out of my misery and tell me the score! tree →
• The flood left the town in misery. tree →
• Grandad calls my brother a «misery guts» when he sulks. tree →
• Toothache is pure misery. tree →
• Charity groups work to end the misery of hunger. tree →
• Save my child from all that misery! tree →

Note

Mostly uncountable, but «miseries» is used for different troubles. Adjective: miserable. Pronounced «MIZ-er-ee». Spelling: miser + y. A «miser» is a different word (someone who hates spending money). Not a maths word.

In Jewish tradition

In Sefer Yetzirah misery is the opposite of happiness, meant for the wicked.

Interpretation. The book teaches that good people are rewarded and the wicked punished, as other Jewish tradition does.

Examples

• Misery, or an evil end, or simply evil, ROH. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
• Happiness is reserved for the just, and misery for the wicked ones. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1887) tree →
• Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. (Writings PRO.31.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• For thou shalt forget thy misery; thou shalt remember it as waters that are passed away; (Writings JOB.11.16, JPS 1917) tree →
• Wherewith is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul — (Writings JOB.3.20, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Mostly uncountable, but «miseries» is used for different troubles. Adjective: miserable. Pronounced «MIZ-er-ee». Spelling: miser + y. A «miser» is a different word (someone who hates spending money). Not a maths word.