pessimal

English

Etymology

From Latin pessimus (“worst”) +‎ -al, modeled on optimal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ.sɪ.məl/, /ˈpɛ.sə.məl/
• Hyphenation: pes‧si‧mal

Adjective

pessimal (not comparable)

1. Bad to a maximal extent; worst.
   • 1989, Peter C. Ordeshook, Gregory F. Rose, Emerson M. Niou, The balance of power: Stability in international systems‎:

     Calculated in this way, a security value represents a pessimal view of possibilities.

   • 1998, Bela Bolloas, “Modern Graph Theory”, in LATIN 2000: Theoretical Informatics‎:

     "Optimal and Pessimal Orderings of Steiner Triple Systems in Disk Arrays

   • 2019, Suresh P. Sethi, Optimal Control Theory: Applications to Management Science and Economics‎:

     …the limiting solution is a pessimal solution because the value of the objective function associated with it is zero.

Antonyms

• optimal
• best
• ideal

Related terms

• pessimality
• pessimism
• pessimist
• pessimistic
• pessimize
• pessimum

Anagrams

• plasmise, simple as