Pollyanna
7
8.2
- proper noun
- /ˌpɑːliˈænə/
:
Pollyanna
- Listen, I don't mean to sound like Pollyanna, but things could be worse.
It's like a culty world of Pollyanna's living in some kind of haze.
- It's like a culty world of Pollyanna's living in some kind of haze.
- So it feels like this weird battle between the Cassandra's and the Pollyanna's.
- You know, You know, I'm not I'm far from a Pollyanna, but you're responsible for your own happiness.
- But he had a very kind of Pollyanna a little bit.
- My job is to not say hope it consists of Pollyanna that there's never any bad news.
Examples
-
There's a word for people like me - Pollyanna - and it is usually not meant as a compliment.
Academic text (1998) -
He's happy every day, but not in a Pollyanna-ish way.
Blog text (28) -
Well, Pollyanna is too young to be out alone at night.
-
You know, I know this will sound very Pollyanna, but it's true.
-
Anne is my birth name, but because of my sunny disposition, my friends called me Pollyanna.
-
Later she would lick her wounded ego, berate herself for being such a Pollyanna, and curse him to hell and back.
Fiction book (2001) -
There is an optimism of almost Pollyanna proportions in his descriptions of the operations of order and providence.
Academic text (1990) -
The goals particularly contradict the pervasive Pollyanna view we have regarding the virtues of technology.
Academic text (1997) -
CCI director Berman says those seeking to measure success always ask about recidivism, and he doesn't want to seem a Pollyanna about it by arguing that other factors are very important.
Academic text (2004) -
Despite the challenges ahead, she remained a true Pollyanna, believing that everything would turn out well.
Synonyms
63
3.2
A person who usually expects good things to happen
1
9.9
A person who always expects good things to happen, even in bad situations
A person who stays happy and ignores real problems
A person who keeps expecting good things even when it seems unlikely
A person who expects big changes to fix things, often without thinking about real problems
A person who always expects things to turn out well and stays positive
Antonyms
Compounds
How Optimistic
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pollyanna comes from the name of a girl in a 1913 children's book by Eleanor H. Porter who always looked for something good and played the 'glad game'. So a Pollyanna is someone who is extremely or sometimes unrealistically 'optimistic'.