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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Of the color of blood; red.
  2. adj. Of a healthy reddish color; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.
  3. adj. Archaic Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
  4. adj. Archaic Having the temperament and ruddy complexion formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
  5. adj. Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Of blood; bloody.
  2. Bloodthirsty; bloody; sanguinary.
  3. Of the color of blood; red; ruddy: as, a sanguine complexion; the sanguine francolin, Ithaginis cruentatus; specifically, in heraldry, same as murrey.
  4. Abounding with blood; plethoric; characterized by fullness of habit: as, a sanguine habit of body.
  5. Characterized by an active and energetic circulation of the blood; having vitality; hence, vivacious; cheerful; hopeful; confident; ardent; hopefully inclined; habitually confiding: as, a sanguine temperament; to be sanguine of success. See temperament.
  6. Synonyms Lively, animated, enthusiastic.
  7. n. The color of blood; red; specifically, in heraldry, same as murrey.
  8. n. Bloodstone, with which cutlers stained the hilts of swords, etc.
  9. n. Anything of a blood-red color, as a garment.
  10. n. A drawing executed with red chalks.
  11. To stain with blood; ensanguine.
  12. To stain or varnish with a color like that of blood; redden.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Having the colour of blood; red.
  2. adj. obsolete, physiology Having a bodily constitution characterised by a preponderance of blood over the other bodily humours, thought to be marked by irresponsible mirth; indulgent in pleasure to the exclusion of important matters.
  3. adj. Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood.
  4. adj. Warm; ardent.
  5. adj. Anticipating the best; optimistic; not despondent; confident; full of hope.
  6. n. Blood colour; red.
  7. n. Anything of a blood-red colour, as cloth.
  8. n. Bloodstone.
  9. n. Red crayon. See the Note under crayon, 1.
  10. v. To stain with blood; to impart the colour of blood to; to ensanguine.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Having the color of blood; red.
  2. adj. Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood.
  3. adj. Warm; ardent.
  4. adj. Anticipating the best; cheerfully optimistic; not desponding; confident; full of hope.
  5. n. Blood color; red.
  6. n. obsolete Anything of a blood-red color, as cloth.
  7. n. (Min.) Bloodstone.
  8. n. Red crayon. See the Note under Crayon, 1.
  9. v. To stain with blood; to impart the color of blood to; to ensanguine.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a blood-red color
  2. adj. confidently optimistic and cheerful
  3. adj. inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life

Etymologies

  1. From French sanguin, ultimately from Latin sanguineus ("of blood"), from sanguis ("blood"), of uncertain origin, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *h₁sh₂-én-, from *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, from Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus, from sanguis, sanguin-, blood. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (14)

Words with the same meaning

  1. warm
  2. hopeful
  1. lively
  2. confident
  1. optimistic
  2. ardent
  1. red
  2. bloodstone
  1. ensanguine
  2. animated
  1. bullish
  2. bright
  1. assured
  2. buoyant

equivalents (2)

Other words for ‘sanguine’

  1. optimistic
  1. healthy

antonyms (3)

Words with the opposite meaning

  1. pessimistic
  1. blue
  1. gloomy

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. red
  1. redness

same context (15)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. optimistic
  2. enthusiastic
  3. buoyant
  1. excitable
  2. fearless
  3. impetuous
  1. fervent
  2. youthful
  3. cheerful
  1. adventurous
  2. vivacious
  3. light-hearted
  1. credulous
  2. naive
  3. susceptible

reverse dictionary (22)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. sanguin
  2. sangwine
  3. murrey
  4. sanguine
  1. guze
  2. hæmatic
  3. unsanguine
  4. optimistic
  1. optimistically
  2. sanguinely
  3. sanguineness
  4. sanguinolent
  1. daydreamer
  2. day-dreaming
  3. adust
  4. sanguinity
  1. sanguinaceous
  2. sanguineous
  3. temperament
  4. eager
  1. hopeful
  2. sardonyx

tags (11)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. french
  2. art
  1. red
  2. latin origin
  1. cvccvvcv
  2. color
  1. heraldry
  2. temperament
  1. SATWOTD
  2. color:#8E0000_q1gx
  1. ppwp_shouldknow

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Lists

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Comments

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  • Share I don't like this word at all, it doesn't sound like what it means and I use optimistic so who needs it? I noticed 19th century people like US Grant used it alot, maybe before optimistic became popular. I always have to look it up when I read it and am pretty sure the first definition I read of it said it meant something amounting to indifferent or ok with things, not optimistic. Too complicated, too Latin and has no zero subjective meaning. May 10, 2012

  • lweber5@scf.edu A sanguine complexion. - Websters Dictionary pg.71 Sep 23, 2010

  • reesetee Rolig, well put--I like this word for similar reasons.

    Also, henceforth I'd like to be called Sangfroid the Sanguine. Jun 2, 2009

  • rolig Ha! "Sangfroid the Sanguine" sounds like the name of one of CharlesFerdinand's kings: "In the days of Sangfroid the Sanguine, the country remained at peace for none of his neighbors was able to provoke him to war." Jun 2, 2009

  • chained_bear Maybe... "Sangfroid the Sanguine." Although sangfroid is not a verb. More's the pity. *thinking about how one might sangfroid if one chose to* Jun 1, 2009

  • rolig How cultures interpret words like this is fascinating. In French, sangfroid and, in Russian, хладнокровие (khladnokroviye) are good qualities in a person, both conveying the sense of "cool-headedness"; in English, however, cold-bloodedness is definitely not something you want to encounter. I tend to associate sanguine with sangfroid. I pronounce the word in a way that almost rhymes with penguin (another cool character), so Cole Porter would have to change his tune to make this word fit for me. Jun 1, 2009

  • chained_bear Hm. Maybe you've put your finger on why I don't like it much, though I'm enthusiastic about other words that call to mind the Middle Ages: this one doesn't sound at all like what it means. When I look at sanguinary, and then sanguine, I never get the meaning right. *ponders*

    Isn't there a song, "Begin the Sanguine"? There should be. Jun 1, 2009

  • rolig Oh, I love this word, just like I love all the words still in use that hark back to medieval concepts about the mind-body-elements-planets relationships: bilious, choleric, melancholic, humorous, saturnine, jovial, mercurial, etc. And I don't think sanguine is pretentious when it's used to mean "optimistic, positive, cheerful, unruffled". Its synonyms don't really convey so directly the same sense that the attitude so discribed relates to something inherent in a person's character. I also like the fact that it comes from a word for "blood" and that it has as a much darker, tragic cousin in the word sanguinary. Jun 1, 2009

  • chained_bear Blood.

    Also, it's just a pretentious word, I think—like the S word. (I don't like or dislike it much, myself.) Jun 1, 2009

  • yarb I'm amazed this has so many listings. What's the appeal?? Jun 1, 2009

  • frindley This, with sepia, is a key colour in classical drawing. Sep 7, 2008

  • renumeratedfrog This word is etymologically closely related to the word sanguinary which means "bloodthirsty". Aug 21, 2008

  • victoriapl the color of blood. Dec 1, 2007

  • mollusque 'God! what a beauty! what a lovely charming thing!' he exclaimed. 'Haven't they raised it on snails and sour milk, Nelly? Oh damn my soul! but that's worse than I expected--and the devil knows I was not sanguine!'
    --Emily Brontë, 1847, Wuthering Heights Nov 10, 2007

  • ellenw "Hopeful. Plus, point of interest, it also means 'bloody.'" Apr 12, 2007

  • seanahan Jon Stewart mispronounced this one pretty badly. Dec 20, 2006

  • inkhorn This is odd - this word seems have been added to 17 Wordie lists in the last week, but it is a the bottom of the list, not the top. Dec 20, 2006

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‘sanguine’ has been looked up 10871 times, loved by 71 people, added to 417 lists, commented on 17 times, and has a Scrabble score of 9.