Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One who usually expects a favorable outcome.
- noun A believer in philosophical optimism.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who believes in the metaphysical doctrine of optimism.
- noun One who believes in the present or ultimate supremacy of good over evil; one who always hopes for and expects the best; a person of hopeful disposition.
- Of or pertaining to optimism; optimistic: as, the optimist view.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Metaph.) One who holds the opinion that all events are ordered for the best.
- noun One who looks on the bright side of things, or takes hopeful views; one who experiences optimism{2}; -- opposed to
pessimist .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A person who expects a favourable outcome.
- noun A believer in
optimism . - noun A small
centre-board sailing dinghy designed to train and introduce young children intosailing .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person disposed to take a favorable view of things
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word optimist.
Examples
-
Mr.H. T. Tuckerman makes a book of essays on various subjects, and calls it The Optimist; and then devotes several pages of preface to an argument, lexicon in hand, proving that the applicability of the term optimist is ` obvious. '
Literary Blunders; A chapter in the "History of Human Error" 1893
-
"We were what we called optimist realists," she said.
-
Vidal Castillo, the optimist, is confident that the outlook is good for an upswing in the fortunes of a town which has had its share of downers.
Alamos: Still a boom to bust town, but with everlasting charm 2009
-
Tell that lizard that your eternal optimist is alive, kicking, and ready for a tough match!
-
[…] “All Georgia is here!” declared one optimist from the stage.
Global Voices in English » Georgia: Opposition protests on hold, new concerns emerge 2009
-
Inspirational Quote: "An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day."
Talking Turkey Ulysses 2009
-
Vidal Castillo, the optimist, is confident that the outlook is good for an upswing in the fortunes of a town which has had its share of downers.
Alamos: Still a boom to bust town, but with everlasting charm 2009
-
Inspirational Quote: "An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day."
Archive 2009-10-01 Ulysses 2009
-
And Charlie Brown, turning the appellation optimist into someone sure to be scorned, because he so wants to believe and wants so much to kick that elusive football, comes charging down the field one more time, only to have the diabolical Lucy pull the ball once again, as Charlie Brown goes flying up in the air.
Michael Russnow: The WGA Strike for Dummies: Why Is It Taking So Long? 2008
-
I am a short-term optimist, but feel this planet is going down the tubes.
davidrothman.net » Biblioblogosphere “Five Things” Round-Up (plus Cite Bite demo) 2007
jmjarmstrong commented on the word optimist
JM wonders if an optimist is a very dense fog and a bigamist is even denser.
July 4, 2011