meant

[GUEST2008]

Hi

Was life really meant to be as terrible as this?

--- Does it mean: Was life supposed to be so terrible from the very beginning?

[Abstract Idea]

Hi

Was life really meant to be as terrible as this?

--- Does it mean: Was life supposed to be so terrible from the very beginning?

Yes.
The sentence means:
Was life really supposed to be as terrible as this?
or
Was life really conceived to be as terrible as this?
or
Does life have really to be as terrible as this?

Depending on the context, you can infer "from the very beginning" (depending on who (and when) meant life to be the way it is)

PS Not a native speaker

[Raymott]

Hi

Was life really meant to be as terrible as this?

--- Does it mean: Was life supposed to be so terrible from the very beginning?

No, it doesn't necessarily have that meaning.
You could say that even if everyone's childhood was happy and then as you got past puberty, everyone became depressed and suicidal.
That would be pretty terrible. Beginnings are not implied in the sentence.

[GUEST2008]

No, it doesn't necessarily have that meaning.

but "necessarily" means that it could have this meaning

[Abstract Idea]

I agree with Raymott "beginnings are not implied in the sentence".
However, as I said before, depending on the context, a "beginning" maybe implicit here.

And what a "beginning" means is naturally also relative. I think Raymott interpreted as the beginning of someone's life in his example, while I interpreted as a "previous general beginning" - that one we do not know even if it makes sense to talk about but we always have wondered about.

[bhaisahab]

If you think of life being created by someone or something to have a purpose, then "Was life really meant to be as terrible as this" could be thought of as being from the beginning.

[Raymott]

but "necessarily" means that it could have this meaning

Yes, "not necessarily" means I could have that meaning.
Yes, I meant this about a person saying this about their own life.