Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A tendency to expect the best possible outcome or dwell on the most hopeful aspects of a situation.
- noun The doctrine, asserted by Leibniz, that this world is the best of all possible worlds.
- noun The belief that the universe is improving and that good will ultimately triumph over evil.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In metaphysics: Properly, the metaphysical doctrine of Leibnitz that the existing universe is the best of all possible universes.
- noun The doctrine that the universe advances on the whole, so as to be tending toward a state in the indefinite future different in its general character from that in the indefinite past.
- noun The belief, or disposition to believe, that whatever exists is right and good, in some inscrutable way, in spite of all observations to the contrary.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Metaph.) The opinion or doctrine that everything in nature, being the work of God, is ordered for the best, or that the ordering of things in the universe is such as to produce the highest good.
- noun A habitual tendency or a present disposition to take the most hopeful view of future events, and to expect a favorable outcome even when unfavorable outcomes are possible; -- opposed to
pessimism .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
tendency toexpect thebest , or at least, afavourable outcome - noun the
doctrine that thisworld is the best of allpossible worlds - noun the
belief thatgood willeventually triumph overevil
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the optimistic feeling that all is going to turn out well
- noun a general disposition to expect the best in all things
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Reagan optimism is code for status quo Republican agenda.
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Reagan optimism is code for status quo Republican agenda.
Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Hillary Personally Slams Obama Over Reagan Comments 2009
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The term optimism as thus extended would also include "meliorism", a word first used in print by Sully to designate the theory of those who hold that things are, indeed, bad, but that they can be better, and that it is in our power to increase the happiness and welfare of mankind.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 11: New Mexico-Philip 1840-1916 1913
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You may not agree with their philosophy for creating a better future for America, but the optimism is the same.
Michael Maslansky: Hope and Change 2.0: It's the Tea Party's Turn Michael Maslansky 2010
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You may not agree with their philosophy for creating a better future for America, but the optimism is the same.
Michael Maslansky: Hope and Change 2.0: It's the Tea Party's Turn Michael Maslansky 2010
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Underpinning the optimism is a belief that the sovereign-debt concerns that rattled markets earlier in the year have become less threatening.
Deal Making Increases in Europe Dana Cimilluca 2010
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You may not agree with their philosophy for creating a better future for America, but the optimism is the same.
Michael Maslansky: Hope and Change 2.0: It's the Tea Party's Turn Michael Maslansky 2010
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You may not agree with their philosophy for creating a better future for America, but the optimism is the same.
Michael Maslansky: Hope and Change 2.0: It's the Tea Party's Turn Michael Maslansky 2010
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Today, a scant two years later, as chaos erupts in that great expanse of geography that once was the Soviet Union, our optimism is at home with a severe autumn cold.
Canada's World Role 1992
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I walk away in awe wondering if this, perhaps, is what they call the optimism of youth.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Hamdan Azhar 2010
vanishedone commented on the word optimism
WeirdNet is trying to be my psychiatric assessor. Definition four: 'your usual mood'.
Apparently pessimism is also my usual mood...
February 1, 2008
sonofgroucho commented on the word optimism
WeirdNet is trying to be all things to all people!
I love the first definition too, where it practically uses the word to define itself!
February 2, 2008
reesetee commented on the word optimism
What cheek! I didn't know WeirdNet was so forward.
February 2, 2008
lampbane commented on the word optimism
The Days May Be Grim, but Here’s a Good Word to Put in Your Pocket (New York Times, November 19, 2009)
“The Waterfalls” flowed in the East River. “The Gates” snaked through Central Park. Now New York’s latest large-scale public art project is being exhibited in an even unlikelier space: your wallet.
On the back of seven million MetroCards distributed this fall is a single printed word: “optimism.” Composed in clean, bold, sans-serif letters, it floats in a sea of white just beneath the boilerplate fine print. Another seven million are on the way early next year.
November 20, 2009