pessimist

noun

pes·si·mist ˈpe-sə-mist

also ˈpe-zə-

plural pessimists

: a person who is inclined to expect poor outcomes : someone who is given to pessimism

… such was the success of the first venture that many must now be optimistic where most were pessimists at the beginning of the year and for several years before.—

Francis Byrne

For pessimists, the heavens offer a host of doomsday scenarios—an asteroid crashing into Earth or deadly cosmic rays raining down on the planet.—

R. Cowen

Examples of pessimist in a Sentence

she's such a pessimist that she's convinced she'll fail every test a true pessimist, he's convinced that there will be wars as long as there are people to wage them

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Refuse to Magnify the Madness Optimists face the same storms as pessimists but emerge better off. —

Margie Warrell, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024 The pessimists believe that robots will take over human jobs, putting millions out of work. —

Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2024 Research involving Belgian newspaper articles and experts shows that public commentators on the topic tend to fall into three buckets: optimists (largely tech entrepreneurs), skeptics (largely economists) , and pessimists (authors and journalists). —

Nicky Dries, joost Luyckx, philip Rogiers, Harvard Business Review, 16 Sep. 2024 On one side, existential pessimists warn of an impending doom where AI's ascendancy leads to humanity's downfall. —

Josipa Majic Predin, Forbes, 6 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for pessimist