Italian

Adjective

misero m ‎(feminine singular misera, masculine plural miseri, feminine plural misere) (comparative: più misero, superlative: miserrimo)

1. bleak, miserable, unhappy, wretched
   • 1472, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno, Le Monnier (1994), Canto XVII, p. 257-258 vv. 109-110:

     né quando Icaro misero le reni ¶ sentì spennar per la scaldata cera, [...]

     nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks ¶ felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, [...]

   • 1802, Ugo Foscolo, “A Luigia Pallavicini caduta da cavallo” (Scelte opere di Ugo Foscolo, Poligrafica Fiesolana, Firenze (1835), p. 22), vv. 76-78:

     Scuote l’arcion, te misera ¶ su la pietrosa riva ¶ strascinando mal viva

     It shakes the saddle, dragging ¶ you on the rocky shore, ¶ miserable and barely alive

   1. (by extension, of a person) destitute, indigent, poor
   2. (by extension, of a place) poor, underdeveloped
2. inadequate, insufficient, meager

   Un misero salario.‎

   A meager salary.

3. contemptible, despicable, miserable, sleazy
   • 1472, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno, Le Monnier (1994), Canto III, p. 37-38 vv. 34-36:

     Ed elli a me: «Questo misero modo ¶ tegnon l'anime triste di coloro ¶ che visser sanza 'nfamia e sanza lodo. [...]»

     And he to me: «This miserable mode ¶ maintain the melancholy souls of those ¶ who lived withouten infamy or praise. [...]»

4. (archaic) avaricious, covetous, stingy, ungenerous
   • 1353, Giovanni Boccaccio, Decamerone, Tommaso Hedlin (1527), page 250:

     [...] non ad ammaſſare denari, come i miſeri fanno, ma ad iſpender gli ammaſſati [...]

     [...] not to amass money, like the avaricious do, but to spend that collected [...]

   • 1532, Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe (1537), page 29:

     [...] miſero chiamiamo quello che troppo ſi aſtiene dallo vſar il ſuo.

     it's called stingy he who excessively withholds his own [money].

Synonyms

• (1): disgraziato, infelice, miserabile
• (1.1): bisognoso, indigente, povero
• (1.2): depresso, povero, sottosviluppato
• (2): insufficiente, irrisorio, magro, scarso
• (3): abietto, ignobile, meschino, spregevole
• (4): avaro, taccagno, tirchio

Antonyms

• (1): beato, felice, fortunato
• (1.1): abbiente, agiato, benestante
• (1.2): fiorente, prospero, ricco
• (2): abbondante, cospicuo, lauto
• (3): nobile
• (4): generoso, munifico, prodigo

Derived terms

• miseramente

Related terms

• miserabile
• miserevole
• miseria

Etymology 2

Verb

misero

1. third-person plural past historic indicative of mettere

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.se.roː/, [ˈmɪ.sɛ.roː]

Adjective

miserō

1. dative masculine singular of miser
2. dative neuter singular of miser
3. ablative masculine singular of miser
4. ablative neuter singular of miser

Verb

mīserō

1. first-person singular future perfect active indicative of mittō

Verb

miserō ‎(present infinitive miserāre, perfect active miserāvī, supine miserātum); first conjugation

1. Alternative form of miseror

Inflection

References

• misero in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “misero”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.