Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person regarded as being foolishly or blindly optimistic.
Wiktionary
- n. A female given name derived from Polly and Anna; rare in the real world.
- n. One who is persistently cheerful and optimistic, even when given cause not to be so.
- n. colloquial, US A secret Santa gift exchange.
Etymologies
- The sense of a persistent optimist comes from the name of the protagonist in a book by Eleanor Porter. (Wiktionary)
- After the heroine of the novel Pollyanna, by Eleanor Hodgman Porter (1868-1920), American writer. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Before reading the book, I didn't realize it existed, and I agree, the meaning of pollyanna strays from the behavior of Pollyanna in the book.”
“PollyANna!" gasped the lady; but Pollyanna was gone, and only the distant bang of the attic-stairway door answered for her.”
“Maybe it's a cop-out, but Pollyanna is the perfect antidote, at times, to my troubled world vision.”
“But he is completely out of touch with reality and completely stuck in Pollyanna land, suggesting that we need to stay in Iraq indefinitely and that things are going so well”
Think Progress » Note to Lieberman: The Iraqis Want A Timetable
“Of course, this could all just be my friggin 'Pollyanna complex kicking in, and I'm just trying to find a bright side ... posted by Candace at 11/23/2005 11: 38: 00 PM”
“But, at the risk of being called a Pollyanna, let me give you the good news.”
“Several times I've been called a Pollyanna, and I say, "Well, if I am, I'm proud of it.”
“I don't mean this as some sort of a "Pollyanna" platitude, but as a serious reflection on our world and who we are becoming at this particular time in human history.”
The Huffington Post: Jim Selman: Why This Is the Best Time to Be Alive
“Sure, this sounds like 'Pollyanna' ... but what will it hurt to dedicate one part of ourselves to getting better, smarter, faster ... kinder, stronger, wiser ... each day, even as we nurse whatever failures, fears or faults we choose to continue to acknowledge?”
The Huffington Post: Janice Bryant Howroyd: Good, Better, Best...Better?
“Nowadays, "Pollyanna" has morphed into a term meaning someone who has a superficial, naïve, rose-colored-glasses view of the world.”
The Huffington Post: Helen Davey: Faking Positive Emotions for Our Jobs: At What Cost?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Pollyanna’.
-
Old words
recalcitrant, grok, Hiatus, shanghai, pervade, diffuse, tempestuous, incorrigible, daunt, cull, Erudite, Assuage and 35 more...
-
My GRE
concomitant, mendacity, corollary, mandate, ascertain, exacerbate, substantiate, perennial, exemplify, hegemony, acrimonious, repertoire and 653 more...
-
semantic
Pollyanna, electorate, beset, emphatically, demure, retrograde, adulate, infusion, subservient, precept, berate, milquetoast
-
Books invade language
Words that originated in books.
Brobdingnagian, Bunburying, Bunbury, Pangloss, Micawber, Jeremiah, Pollyanna, cassandra, Svengali, Barmecidal, mitty, Mitty and 9 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for Pollyanna.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.