Optimistic

How to spell optimistic

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce optimistic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does optimistic mean?

1. adjectiveHopeful and confident that good things will happen or that an outcome will be favourable.

Optimistic in a sentence

• The sales team felt optimistic about hitting the quarterly target.

• Despite the delays, she remained optimistic that the project would finish on time.

Where does optimistic come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin optimus, meaning 'best', the superlative form of bonus, meaning 'good'. In the early 1700s French philosophers built optimisme to name the doctrine, associated with the thinker Leibniz, that this is the best of all possible worlds. English borrowed 'optimism' from that French optimisme later in the eighteenth century, and the adjective 'optimistic' followed, describing a person who expects the best or favourable outcome. Over time the heavy philosophical meaning faded and the everyday sense of cheerful, hopeful expectation took over. The same optimus root surfaces in 'optimum' and 'optimal', which still carry the original idea of the very best, and remembering that core 'optim-' spelling helps fix the tricky unstressed middle vowel.

How the word is built

• optim- (from Latin optimus: best)
• -ist (one who holds a view)
• -ic (adjective suffix)