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optimism

UK/ˈɒptɪmɪzəm/US/ˈɑptɪmɪzəm/
nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,795 of 15,258neutral

Optimism is the habit of expecting things to turn out well. Cautious optimism, a mood of optimism, optimism about the future.

Studies find optimists live longer and also that people generally overestimate their own chances, which is called the optimism bias — so the habit is good for you and bad for your planning. The word comes from the Latin optimus, best.

S nova · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of optimism

  1. 1nounoptimismThe habit of expecting things to turn out well.C1

    “Despite losing the first game, the coach was full of optimism about the season ahead.”

optimism is an outlook.

Where it comes from

French optimisme comes from Latin optimus, best. It was coined for the philosophical claim that this is the best of all possible worlds.

  1. French

    optimisme

  2. English, today

    optimism

From French optimisme, equivalent to optimus + -ism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Big Ideas

Practise this word

optimism in the wild

  • Through Candide, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.

    Candide

  • Studies have consistently shown that holding all else equal, subjects will have unrealistic optimism and predict positive outcomes to be more likely than negative outcomes.

    Wishful thinking

  • Variation in optimism between people is somewhat heritable and reflects biological trait systems to some degree.

    Optimism

  • A person's optimism is also influenced by environmental factors, including family environment, and may be learnable.

    Optimism

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.