optimist
Americannoun
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optimists
plural
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an optimistic person.
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a person who holds the belief or the doctrine of optimism.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of optimist
First recorded in 1760–70; from French optimiste, from Latin optim(um) ( see optimum) + French -iste -ist
Explanation
An optimist is someone who always sees the bright side of any situation — a trait that can be either encouraging or annoying, depending on your frame of mind. Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” When you think about the problems in the world, it might sometimes be difficult to remain an optimist. Yet some people just naturally look for the silver lining, like Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories who, when admitting that it's still snowing and freezing, remarks, "However, we haven't had an earthquake lately." Now that's an optimist!
Vocabulary lists containing optimist
Fish in a Tree
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100 SAT words Beginning with "O"
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Home of the Brave
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The optimist in me loves the idea that a food bank provides financial education, even if it was a prerequisite to avail of its services.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026
Doyle said he is an optimist when it comes to how AI could benefit companies and humanity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
But the optimist in me still gets duped from time to time.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
Whether you are an A.I. optimist or pessimist, you’d ideally agree that few industries have ever screamed out more for intense scrutiny at a particular moment than generative A.I. does right now.
From Slate ● Apr. 7, 2026
“An optimist is positive and hopeful. A pessimist is negative and cynical.”
From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
"People in agriculture are eternal optimists," she said "Otherwise we wouldn't get in it."
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
AI optimists are confident the technology is just being tested and monitored enough that humans can prevent it from consistently causing catastrophes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
He and other optimists believe the old ways will fuel a return to healthier, smaller-scale, more sustainable food production across the US.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Hopefully, I don’t sound as naive as those early internet optimists, who thought new shifts would usher in a golden age of humanity.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
Scientists can’t afford to be optimists or pessimists.
From "Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
