Pollyanna
noun
Pol·ly·an·na ˌpä-lē-ˈa-nə 
: a person characterized by irrepressible optimism and a tendency to find good in everything
Pollyanna adjective
Pollyannaish
ˌpä-lē-ˈa-nə-ish
adjective or less commonly Pollyannish
ˌpä-lē-ˈa-nish
Example Sentences
I'm no Pollyanna, but I do think some good will come out of this.
Word History
Etymology
Pollyanna, heroine of the novel Pollyanna (1913) by Eleanor Porter †1920 American fiction writer
First Known Use
1921, in the meaning defined above
Pollyanna 1 of 2
adjective
as in optimistic
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- optimistic
- Pollyannaish
- Pollyannish
- hopeful
- rosy
- upbeat
- Panglossian
- rose-colored
- encouraging
- promising
- likely
- golden
- auspicious
- propitious
- heartening
- positive
- reassuring
- cheering
- bright
- fair
- comforting
- idealist
- utopian
- favorable
- cheerful
- cheery
- romantic
- visionary
- chipper
- sunny
- good
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- pessimistic
- hopeless
- cynical
- defeatist
- despairing
- fatalistic
- bearish
- nihilistic
- downbeat
- desperate
- discouraging
- unlikely
- nihilist
- unpromising
- inauspicious
- disheartening
Pollyanna
2 of 2noun
as in optimist
Synonyms & Similar Words
- optimist
- idealist
- utopian
- dreamer
- romantic
- romanticist
- sentimentalist
- Micawber
- visionary
- emotionalist
- ideologue
- daydreamer
- idealogue
- idealizer
- fantast
- Don Quixote
- do-gooder
- perfectionist
- fantasizer
- woolgatherer
- theorist
- reformer
- thinker
- doctrinaire
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- pessimist
- cynic
- defeatist
- realist
- empiricist
- pragmatist
- empiric
- hardnose