Pollyanna
noun /ˌpɒliˈænə/
/ˌpɑːliˈænə/
[usually singular]- a person who is always cheerful and expects only good things to happenMore Like This Expressions from literary sourcesExpressions from literary sources
- Alice in Wonderland
- Casanova
- Cassandra
- Don Juan
- Dorian Gray
- Falstaffian
- Frankenstein
- Jekyll and Hyde
- Lilliputian
- Lothario
- Orwellian
- Pandora’s box
- Peter Pan
- Pied Piper
- Pollyanna
- Rip Van Winkle
- Ruritanian
- Scrooge
- Shangri-La
- Sherlock
- Stepford Wife
- Svengali
- Tweedledum and Tweedledee
- Utopia
- Walter Mitty
Word OriginFrom the name of a character created by the US writer of children’s stories, Eleanor Hodgman Porter.CultureThe character appears in the novels Pollyanna (1913) and Pollyanna Grows Up (1915). Pollyanna was later a silent film (1920) with Mary Pickford and a Walt Disney film (1960) with Hayley Mills.Word Originearly 20th cent.: the name of the optimistic heroine created by Eleanor Hodgman Porter (1868–1920), American author of children's stories.