pessimism
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pessimism
A fundamentally negative outlook on life, in which one tends to always expect the worst and to emphasize the negative aspects of a situation or of life in general.
Trotz der guten Nachrichten ließ er sich von seinem Pessimismus nicht abbringen und erwartete weiterhin Probleme.
Despite the good news, he could not be shaken out of his pessimism and continued to expect problems.
'Der Pessimismus' (pessimism) belongs to a word family. A person with this attitude is 'der Pessimist' (male pessimist) or 'die Pessimistin' (female pessimist), and the related quality is described with the adjective 'pessimistisch' (pessimistic).
Ihre pessimistische Sicht auf die Dinge machte die Zusammenarbeit schwierig.
Her pessimistic view of things made working together difficult.
When someone develops a negative attitude, you can say that they 'verfällt in Pessimismus' (fall into pessimism). A situation or mood can also be 'von Pessimismus geprägt sein' (be marked by pessimism).
Nach der Niederlage verfiel die ganze Mannschaft in tiefen Pessimismus.
After the defeat, the whole team fell into deep pessimism.
You can recognize the philosophical meaning from signal words such as 'Lehre' (doctrine), 'Strömung' (movement/school of thought), 'Vertreter' (representative), or the names of philosophers. Without this context, it usually means the general negative outlook on life.
Im Seminar haben wir uns mit dem philosophischen Pessimismus des 19. Jahrhunderts beschäftigt.
In the seminar, we dealt with the philosophical pessimism of the 19th century.
hope
'die Hoffnung' and 'der Pessimismus' show two opposite ways of looking at things. With 'Hoffnung', you expect or wish that something positive can happen. 'Pessimismus' is a negative basic attitude: you are more likely to expect problems or a bad outcome. 'Hoffnung' often refers to a specific situation, while 'Pessimismus' more often describes how someone generally thinks or evaluates a situation.
Der Pessimismus meines Bruders macht die Planung manchmal schwer.
My brother's pessimism sometimes makes planning difficult.
Am Telefon sagte sie, dass sie noch Hoffnung auf gutes Wetter für die Reise hat.
On the phone, she said that she still has hope for good weather for the trip.