Pangloss
- a person who views a situation with unwarranted optimism
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Word Origin
C19: after Dr Pangloss, a character in Voltaire's Candide (1759)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Examples from the Web for pangloss
Historical Examples
It was audacious in me, but I took another liberty with Pangloss.
The Uncommercial TravellerCharles Dickens
But all for the best, as my fellow philosopher, Pangloss, says.
Life and Correspondence of David Hume, Volume II (of 2)John Hill Burton
Pangloss was professor of metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology.
CandideVoltaire
Pangloss explained to him how everything was so constituted that it could not be better.
CandideVoltaire
"This concussion of the earth is no new thing," answered Pangloss.
CandideVoltaire