defeatist
12
7.4
- noun
- /dɪˈfiːtɪst/
- He has a defeatist attitude that prevents him from trying new things.
- defeatist attitude
Examples
-
This defeatist attitude is not gonna get us anywhere.
-
Yet this vagrancy is partly of his own making and is due to his defeatist attitude, especially his inclination to flee from confrontation.
Academic text (1997) -
How can anybody do anything with this kind of defeatist talk?
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This is crazy defeatist talk
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How have you made it this far being such a defeatist?
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I hate to see a young man like you take a defeatist attitude.
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After two tough losses, it would be easy to slip into defeatist thinking.
Blog text (1) -
You have a defeatist mentality.
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Don't be such a defeatist.
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That's just defeatist.
Synonyms
51
3.2
A person who gives up easily and does not finish things
24
3.9
A person who expects bad things to happen
3
7.9
A person who believes events are already decided and cannot be changed
2
9.3
A person who thinks the future will be bad and expects disaster
1
8.9
A person who always expects bad things to happen
1
8.2
A person who always expects the worst and often complains
1
8.7
A person who always sees the bad side of things
1
7.3
A person who gives up during a fight or competition
1
9.1
A person who always sees the bad side of things and offers no solutions
Antonyms
How Defeatist
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word defeatist comes from defeat ('loss' or 'to be beaten') and the ending -ist ('person who'). So a defeatist is someone who expects failure and often does not try to change the result.