"dismal science" meaning in English

See dismal science in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-dismal science.ogg [Australia] Forms: dismal sciences [plural]
Etymology: Coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1849, a play on gay science (“poetry”). Etymology templates: {{coin|en|Thomas Carlyle|in=1849|nobycat=1}} Coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1849, {{m|en|gay science|gloss=poetry}} gay science (“poetry”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} dismal science (plural dismal sciences)
  1. (idiomatic, sometimes derogatory, sometimes humorous, usually with "the") Economics or the field of political economy. Tags: derogatory, humorous, idiomatic, sometimes, usually, with-definite-article Categories (topical): Economics
    Sense id: en-dismal_science-en-noun-o50dJPYA Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for dismal science meaning in English (3.0kB)

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          "ref": "1849, Thomas Carlyle, “Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question,”, in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, volume 40, pages 530–531",
          "text": "[N]ot a \"gay science,\" but a rueful—which finds the secret of this universe in \"supply and demand\" . . . a dreary, desolate and, indeed, quite abject and distressing one; what we might call, by way of eminence, the dismal science.",
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          "ref": "1973, William R. Doerner, \"‘Crypto Servants’ and Socialism (review of Economics and the Public Purpose by John Kenneth Galbraith),\" Time, 8 Oct.",
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          "ref": "2002, E. B. Kapstein, “Two Dismal Sciences Are Better Than One—Economics and the Study of National Security”, in International Security, volume 27, number 3, page 160",
          "text": "Two Dismal Sciences: Economics and National Security—Writing during World War II, J. B. Condliffe lamented, \"Economists have not contributed in very large measure to the recent outpouring of publications on the causes, conduct, and consequences of war.\" By the turn of the millennium, however, the situation had changed.",
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        },
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          "text": "Two Dismal Sciences: Economics and National Security—Writing during World War II, J. B. Condliffe lamented, \"Economists have not contributed in very large measure to the recent outpouring of publications on the causes, conduct, and consequences of war.\" By the turn of the millennium, however, the situation had changed.",
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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