word-vault/dist/data/cards/mi/misery.json

A lightweight JavaScript package for English word definitions and collections.

{
    "term": "misery",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "great physical or mental pain",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Fame brought her nothing but misery."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was too wrapped in misery to reply."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her misery was made complete when she was separated from her children."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I sank deeper into my misery."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The giant-killers heaped more misery on the home team."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The money brought him nothing but misery."
                },
                {
                    "text": "This financial blow inflicts more misery on the community."
                },
                {
                    "text": "These unscrupulous landlords create untold misery for their tenants."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The pandemic brought untold misery to affected families in urban and rural areas."
                },
                {
                    "text": "War has now added to the misery of these starving people."
                },
                {
                    "text": "ways to alleviate human misery"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The bad news had plunged him into abject misery."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Feelings"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["abject", "great", "real"],
                "verb + misery": ["be full of", "endure", "feel"],
                "preposition": ["misery of"],
                "phrases": ["make somebody’s life a misery"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "very poor living conditions",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The vast majority of the population lives in utter misery."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "poverty",
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["abject", "great", "real"],
                "verb + misery": ["be full of", "endure", "feel"],
                "preposition": ["misery of"],
                "phrases": ["make somebody’s life a misery"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "something that causes great physical or mental pain",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "the miseries of unemployment"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the sheer misery of homelessness"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the country's economic misery"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "a person who is always unhappy and complaining",
            "labels": "(British English, informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Don't be such an old misery!"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Old **misery guts** here doesn’t want to go out."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to behave in a way that makes somebody else feel very unhappy",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "My old boss used to make my life a misery."
                },
                {
                    "text": "His constant criticism made her life a misery."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to kill a creature because it has an illness or injury that cannot be treated",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "In the end we asked the vet to put the poor creature out of its misery."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to stop somebody worrying by telling them something that they are anxious to know",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Put me out of my misery—did I pass or didn't I?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Oh, put her out of her misery—tell her who won."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈmɪzəri/",
                "audio": "mi/misery/misery__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈmɪzəri/",
                "audio": "mi/misery/misery__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English: from Old French miserie, from Latin miseria, from miser ‘wretched’."
}