Miserable means deeply unhappy or uncomfortable. When you're miserable, you feel truly awful, like when you have the flu and every part of your body aches, or when you've had such a terrible day that you want to crawl into bed and start over tomorrow.

The word describes both physical and emotional suffering. A miserable cold makes you feel weak, achy, and exhausted. A miserable experience might be sitting through a long, boring assembly on a hot day with no air conditioning. Someone who feels lonely and left out might feel miserable, especially if that sadness lasts for days or weeks.

You can also call conditions or things miserable when they cause this kind of unhappiness. A miserable rainstorm might ruin a camping trip. Miserable living conditions are so poor they make people deeply uncomfortable.

The word carries weight: it's stronger than “sad” or “uncomfortable.” When you say you're miserable, you're describing real suffering.