Definition of: pessimism

(pes′ə·miz′əm) noun
1. A disposition to take a gloomy view of affairs: opposed to optimism.
2. Cynicism.
3. A theory of cosmology that regards the cosmos, or the world and life, or some main constituent thereof, as essentially evil, or (in its extreme form) as the worst possible world. [<L pessimus worst + -ISM, on analogy with optimism]
—pes′si·mist noun
—pes′si·mis′tic or ·ti·cal adjective
—pes′si·mis′ti·cal·ly adverb