Skip to main content
bearish

bearish

10 7.2
To expect stock prices to fall
  • adjective
  • /ˈbɛrɪʃ/
  • Jargon
translation icon : bajista
  • Not sure if it will happen this week, but I'm feeling bearish today.
  • bearish market
  • bearish outlook
  • turns bearish

So I've become much more bearish on on that future.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Don't feel good about the markets; very bearish, I am afraid.

    Blog text (26)
  • If they go beyond mid-2015, it will be bearish for the dollar.

    Blog text (24)
  • You knew the market was bearish.

  • The same logic also makes me a lot more bearish than you are on the Chinese growth story.

    Blog text (19)
  • That's why you gotta get on things quick when the market's bearish.

  • A rising dollar is bearish for commodities.

  • Last week, we noted Citi's bearish warning about stocks in September.

    Blog text (16)
  • lf you see a bearish future in the decade ahead, consider the changes sweeping the world and the opportunities they offer.

  • The comments by Lou Jiwei, chairman of China Investment Corp., are among the most bearish pronouncements.

    Blog text (5)
  • Many investors are feeling bearish about the stock market after recent losses.

Synonyms

gloomy
vsbearish
17 2.1

Making people feel sad because of how it looks or feels

refers to expecting financial prices to fall and pessimism about market prospects

Antonyms

29 7.0

Expecting prices, especially of stocks, to rise

How Pessimistic

pessimistic
67 3.9
bearish
  • Jargon
10 7.2
cautious
210 2.9
neutral
218 3.6

Surface Forms

bearish positive
bearisher comparative
bearishest superlative

Morphology

bearish = bear (opaque) = bear + ish

Although formed by the regular suffix '-ish', the specialized financial sense 'expecting prices to fall' is a metaphorical, domain-specific meaning that learners cannot derive from 'bear' alone.

Etymology

Bearish comes from bear, the animal, because traders imagined a bear swiping its paw and pushing prices 'down'. So to be bearish is to expect prices to fall or to be pessimistic about the market.