immiseration

im·mi·ser·at·ion
I1M3M3I1S1E1R1A1T1I1O1N1
UK/ɪmɪzəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/US/ɪmɪzəˈɹeɪʃən/

noun

Synonym of immiserization (“the process of making miserable or poor, especially of a population as a whole; impoverishment, pauperization”).

Scrabble 16

Meanings

nounimmiseration (countable and uncountable, plural immiserations)

plural immiserations

  1. countableuncountableSynonym of immiserization (“the process of making miserable or poor, especially of a population as a whole; impoverishment, pauperization”).

    Unimaginable amounts of suffering have been caused by tyrants who callously presided over the immiseration of their peoples or launched destructive wars of conquest.

    2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 2012, →ISBN, page 627
    1 more example

    Even Thomas More, the most populist of the sixteenth-century humanists striving to overcome the immiserations of serfdom, did not question slavery but endorsed it, as did, of course, the U.S. government as late as 1861.

    2010, Jacqueline Stevens, “Introduction”, in States without Nations: Citizenship for Mortals, New York, N.Y.; Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 23

    Synonyms: immiserization

Synonyms & antonyms

nounSynonym of immiserization (“the process of making miserable or poor, especially of a population as a whole; impoverishment, pauperization”).

Origin

From im- (prefix meaning ‘in; into; to; towards’) + miser(able) + -ation (suffix denoting actions or processes, or their results), a variant of immiserization.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with immiseration

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

immiseration. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/immiseration

MLA

“immiseration.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/immiseration. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “immiseration,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/immiseration.

Source: immiseration on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.