Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who accepts the practical or the theoretical doctrine of meliorism.
  • Of or pertaining to meliorism or meliorists.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A proponent of meliorism
  • adjective Of or relating to meliorism.
  • adjective Supporting the principles of meliorism.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a disputant who advocates reform

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin melior ("better") and English -ist. Reportedly coined by British author George Eliot in her letters, published in 1877.

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Examples

  • No question but the novelist would have welcomed as a convincing proof of her 'meliorist' doctrine the progress made in her own homeland in the century since her birth.

    Recent Developments in European Thought Various

  • But while her virtue and courage are not open to question, her judgment is, and points to the limits of a meliorist approach to evil.

    Matthew Yglesias » Helen Suzman 2009

  • Capitalism and collapse: contradictions of Jared Diamond's market meliorist strategy to save the humans [A book review from: Ecological Economics] by R. Smith

    In the Week of the Economic Circus: Which Way Recovery? 2009

  • Excerpt: In practical terms, "Conservation of IQ" is used to argue for limits on immigration, against various meliorist attempts, and possibly even for eugenics.

    Schlesinger Obit, Samurai Vader, IQ Scarcity, Floyd/Bee Gees Mashup KaneCitizen 2007

  • Excerpt: In practical terms, "Conservation of IQ" is used to argue for limits on immigration, against various meliorist attempts, and possibly even for eugenics.

    Archive 2007-03-01 KaneCitizen 2007

  • Capitalism and collapse: contradictions of Jared Diamond's market meliorist strategy to save the humans [A book review from: Ecological Economics] by R. Smith

    The Good News of Economic Collapse 2009

  • Fortunately, the Communists in the Federal Writers 'Project were in their Popular Front phase and all for the meliorist New Deal, so their presence, while provoking conservatives in Congress and making life difficult for writers such as Wright and for Project administrators, ultimately did not diminish the guidebooks' quality.

    A Stimulus Deal for Writers 2009

  • A pessimist in contemplation, he remains a meliorist in action.

    Little Eyolf 2008

  • A pessimist in contemplation, he remains a meliorist in action.

    Little Eyolf 2008

  • That soul who is Kyu in the first story (and Kokila, Katima, and so on thereafter) is combative, imprudent, and prone to getting himself (or herself) killed; while Bold (Bihari, Bistami . . . ) is more comfortable in the world, meliorist and optimistic.

    Archive 2008-10-01 Gregory Feeley 2008

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