1[countableC, uncountableU]SUFFER great suffering that is caused for example by being very poor or very sick 痛苦,困苦,苦难
What we are witnessing here is human misery on a vast scale.
我们在这里所目睹的情景是许许多多的人都生活困苦。
the misery of unemployment
失业的痛苦
the miseries of war
战争造成的苦难
2[countableC, uncountableU]SAD/UNHAPPY great unhappiness 愁苦,悲苦
She looked away so that Tom wouldn’t see her misery.
她扭过头去,不让汤姆看到自己的痛苦。
His face was a picture of sheer misery (=great unhappiness, with no other emotion).
他一脸的愁苦。
The news plunged him into abject misery (=extreme unhappiness).
这消息让他陷入极度痛苦之中。
3make somebody’s life a miseryBritish EnglishBrEPROBLEM to cause so much trouble for someone that they cannot enjoy their life 使某人的日子不好过,使某人的生活充满痛苦
Competitive mothers can make their daughters’ lives a misery.
母亲争强好胜会使女儿日子不好过。
Examples from the Corpus
make somebody’s life a misery• The roadworks are making their lives a misery.• CircuitjudgeJohnLee, 65, told a court that all men suffer because women enjoy making their lives a misery.• My supervisor has made my life a misery.• It makes my life a misery.• Why did they have to make his life a misery?• She really was making his life a misery.• In Dinny's code, if you beat some one in a fight you made their life misery for as long as possible.
4put something/somebody out of their misery
a)informalWORRIED# to make someone stop feeling worried, especially by telling them something they are waiting to hear 使某人不再着急[担心]〔尤指通过告诉其想了解之事〕
Go on, put them out of their misery and announce the winner.