Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pessimism

Pessimism , noun

[Latin pessimus worst, superl. of pejor worse: compare French pessimisme. Compare Impair.]

1.
(Metaphysics) The opinion or doctrine that everything in nature is ordered for or tends to the worst, or that the world is wholly evil; -- opposed to optimism.
2.
A disposition to take the least hopeful view of a situation.