Advertisement

Advertisement

Pangloss

/ ˈpænɡlɒs /

noun

  1. a person who views a situation with unwarranted optimism
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


Discover More

Derived Forms

  • Panˈglossian, adjective
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pangloss1

C19: after Dr Pangloss , a character in Voltaire's Candide (1759)
Discover More

Example Sentences

He ends up on a farm, done with the blind optimism of his mentor Pangloss.

I don’t want to sound like the perpetually optimistic Dr. Pangloss.

A few years later, he and Prince worked together on a revival of Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide,” for which he played the pedantic Dr. Pangloss.

Pinker isn’t a Doctor Pangloss who thinks we live in the best of all possible worlds.

From LaBonge, we were charmed by a boyish Pangloss who believed passionately that the City of the Angels was the best of all possible places.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


Pang-fouPanglossian