Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
The view or doctrine that the world can be improved through human effort (often understood as an intermediate outlook between optimism and pessimism).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
the belief that the world can be made better by human effort
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: belief
History
From Latin melior (“better”) + -ism. Reportedly coined by British author George Eliot in her letters, published in 1877.
Across languages
2 source translations are retained for this English entry.
