doom mongering

8.4

Saying the future will be bad to make people worried

noun
/duːm ˈmʌŋɡərɪŋ/

Literature

: alarmismo

Critics argue that the media's doom mongering about climate change ignores the progress being made.

Examples

Many believe that constant doom mongering will only create unnecessary fear among the public.
No need for doom mongering!

Blog text (5)
In contrast to the 'Hong Kong flu' pandemic, the 2009 pandemic provoked accusations of an 'information overload' and 'doom-mongering.'

Academic text (2012)
The politician's doom mongering is seen as an attempt to sway public opinion leading up to the election.

Synonyms

fearmongering

vsdoom mongering

7 8.0

Trying to make people afraid to change their views or actions

aims at negative future predictions rather than chiefly influencing choices

scaremongering

vsdoom mongering

2 7.3

Spreading exaggerated fear on purpose to make people worry

focuses on negative future predictions rather than exaggerating general fear

Antonyms

optimism

209 2.8

A tendency to expect good results and see the positive side of things

hopefulness

5 1.3

A feeling that good things will happen

How Pessimistic

apocalypticism

1 9.9

doom mongering

Literature

8.4

alarmism

4 8.1

warning

∞ 1.0

caution

58 1.6

Surface Forms

doom mongering singular

doom mongerings plural

Morphology

doom + monger

The meaning is directly compositional: 'doom' (destruction or bad fate) combined with 'monger' (one who spreads or promotes) yields someone or something that promotes doom. This follows a productive English pattern (e.g. scaremonger, warmonger), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Doom mongering pairs doom (bad future events) with mongering, from 'monger' meaning 'seller', so imagine someone loudly 'selling' bad news in a market; that's why it means promoting or spreading negative predictions about the future.