miserable

[[t]mɪ̱zərəb(ə)l[/t]]

1) ADJ-GRADED: usu v-link ADJ If you are miserable, you are very unhappy.

I took a series of badly paid secretarial jobs which made me really miserable...

She went to bed, miserable and depressed.

Derived words:

miserably [[t]mɪ̱zərəbli[/t]] ADV-GRADED usu ADV after v

He looked miserably down at his plate.

2) ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n If you describe a place or situation as miserable, you mean that it makes you feel unhappy or depressed.

There was nothing at all in this miserable place to distract him.

Syn:

depressing

3) ADJ-GRADED If you describe the weather as miserable, you mean that it makes you feel depressed, because it is raining or dull.

On a grey, wet, miserable day our teams congregated in Port Hamble...

It was very cold, damp and miserable.

Syn:

depressing

4) ADJ-GRADED: ADJ n If you describe someone as miserable, you mean that you do not like them because they are bad-tempered or unfriendly.

He always was a miserable man. He never spoke to me nor anybody else, not even to pass the time of day.

Syn:

grumpy

5) ADJ: usu a ADJ amount (emphasis) You can describe a quantity or quality as miserable when you think that it is much smaller or worse than it ought to be.

Our speed over the ground was a miserable 2.2 knots...

It has so far accepted a miserable 1,100 refugees from the former Yugoslavia.

Syn:

paltry, measly

Derived words:

miserably ADV ADV adj

...the miserably inadequate supply of books now provided for schools.

6) ADJ: ADJ n (emphasis) A miserable failure is a very great one.

The film was a miserable commercial failure both in Italy and in the United States.

Derived words:

miserably ADV ADV with v

Some manage it. Some fail miserably.