as in hopeless
emphasizing or expecting the worst
your defeatist attitude is depressing everyone else on the team!
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in realist
one who emphasizes bad aspects or conditions and expects the worst
we told her that if she was going to be such a defeatist, she should keep her thoughts to herself
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defeatist
Adjective
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There are so many hopeless people out there struggling right now financially and with providing for their families.—
Jordan Greene,
People.com,
18 Mar. 2025 -
Sabah had a hopeless prognosis: severe brain edema.—
Ayesha Khan,
The New Yorker,
17 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Labour leader Starmer, though, has taken a realist rather than an idealist approach to the president, putting Britain's foreign policy interests above the strong opposition to Trump in the rank and file of his own party.—
Gordon G. Chang,
Newsweek,
3 Mar. 2025
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This critique involved not just intellectuals on the left, but also famous American realists who played a key part in rallying U.S. liberal opinion to resist Nazism and Stalinism.—
Anatol Lieven,
Harper's Magazine,
19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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While his Late Night forerunner Letterman was probably the comedic polestar of Generation X—gruff, cynical, and biting the hand that fed—O’Brien became a bedrock influence for the next generation of Millennial comics.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
22 Mar. 2025
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And because Disney remakes of one sort or another just keep coming, from Mulan to Pinocchio to The Little Mermaid, the temptation to be cynical about them is enormous.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
TIME,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
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And yes, there are plenty of options for V-Day cynics, including He's Just Not That Into You and a particularly bloody '80s slasher flick.—
Glamour,
Glamour,
7 Feb. 2025
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All one needs is to read the headlines today, 45 years down the road, to see that sometimes cynics have a point.—
George Monastiriakos,
Newsweek,
30 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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This piece won’t be one of those pessimistic about baseball’s future.—
Harry Enten,
CNN Money,
29 Mar. 2025
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But the more pessimistic outlook now appears more realistic.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
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This will be used as a proof point by both venture capital optimists and pessimists, as industry sentiment gets increasingly bifurcated.—
Lucinda Shen,
Axios,
27 Mar. 2025
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Optimists climb the career ladder faster and farther than pessimists.—
Bryan Robinson,
Forbes,
7 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Defeatist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defeatist. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
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