Other forms: miseries
Misery is great unhappiness or suffering. Years of misery, put him out of his misery, sheer misery.
It is heavier than sadness and longer than pain, and it usually names a condition rather than a moment. In British English a misery is also a person who complains constantly. Note the Latin miser, wretched, which is also behind miser, the hoarder.
1nounmiseryGreat unhappiness or suffering.
“The long, wet winter made their lives a misery.”
misery is a suffering.
Latin miseria comes from miser, wretched. The hoarding miser is the same word, one who lives wretchedly.
Latin
miseria
Old French
miserie
Middle English
miserie
English, today
misery
From Middle English miserie, from Old French miserie (modern: misère), from Latin miseria, from miser, equivalent to miser + y. a doublet of misère and mizeria.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA