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The essence of misanthrope might be understood in modern parlance as “haters gonna hate.” Adopted in the early 17th century from Greek misanthrōpos, “hating humankind,” (from misein, “to hate,” and anthrōpos, “human being”) its use was encouraged by French playwright Molière’s 1666 satiric comedy Le Misanthrope, which depicts a bitter critic of society who chooses exile over contact with other people. Misanthrope has a close relation in misanthropy, “a hatred or distrust of humankind,” which in turn has an opposite that, happily, is more common than either: philanthropy most often refers to the practice of giving time and money to help others; its Greek root means “loving humankind.” Philanthropes also exist, though they’re usually referred to as philanthropists.
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Misanthropes and Other Haters
Misanthrope comes from the Greek misanthrōpos “hating humankind” and was very likely popularized by the French playwright Moliere's Le Misanthrope, which depicts a bitter critic of society who chooses exile over contact with other people. In English, misanthrope (or its anglicized equivalent, misanthropist) has been applied to many a perceived antisocial crank, from satirist Jonathan Swift to philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to Charles Dicken’s character Ebenezer Scrooge. It is one of several English words beginning with mis- (from Greek misein "to hate") naming persons who despise something or someone. The most familiar example nowadays is misogynist, used of a person who hates women. Two lesser-known variations on the theme are misandrist “one who hates men” and misopedist “a person who hates children.”
Examples of misanthrope in a Sentence
James Morris, Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 2005
It is perhaps not the healthiest tendency for a man who is already if not a hermit at least a part-time misanthrope.
—Edmund White, Vanity Fair, September 1996
Rather she is the genuine article, a misanthrope so pure she can't understand "why solitary confinement is considered punishment."
—Lewis Burke Frumkes, New York Times Book Review, 10 May 1992
The young people thought him a gloomy misanthrope, because he never joined in their sports—the old men thought still more hardly of him, because he followed no trade, …
—Washington Irving, Salmagundi, November 24, 1807,
in History, Tales, and Sketches, 1977
a former misanthrope who now professes a newly discovered love of mankind
Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 21 Feb. 2025
The late Swiss writer Markus Werner’s bleakly funny The Frog in the Throat, first published forty years ago, is a parallel portrait of father-and-son misanthropes and seems to speak directly to our moment.
—James Gleick, The New York Review of Books, 7 Feb. 2025
Misery loves company; a misanthrope, however, does not.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 9 Jan. 2025
Their characters, a panoply of misanthropes and weirdos, are often trapped in the prisons of their past.
—Holden Seidlitz, The New Yorker, 10 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for misanthrope
Cite this Entry
“Misanthrope.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misanthrope. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
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