Panglossian (Adjective)

Definition 1: Blindly and naively optimistic.

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Usage 1: Today's word provides a way to shorten conversations by condensing "overly-optimistic and na飗e" into a single word. The adjective may be also used freely as a noun, "Nothing distresses Rita; she is an eternal panglossian." It has a non-identical twin, "panglossic," which offers the advantage of an adverb, "panglossically." The noun is "panglossism," taken directly from "Pangloss" (see Etymology).

Suggested usage: Panglossians are generally pleasant company, since they are deaf to bad news. However, the attitude does not fit all circumstances: "Trey Sample is so panglossian as to think that the major impact of the Inquisition was to improve the living standards of rack and gallows makers." Since youth is highly susceptible to the attitude, household uses for today's word abound, "I hope you are not so panglossian as to think that your devastation of my petunias with the lawn-mower this afternoon will pass unnoticed."

Etymology: Today's word is based on the name of Pangloss, the tutor in Voltaire's 'Candide' (1759) who believes, in Candide's words, "that all is right when all goes wrong." Voltaire created the name from Greek pan "all, whole" + glossa "language, tongue." The adverb "pan" also appears in English panoply (from Greek pan + opla "all arms"), panorama (from Greek pan + orama "whole view") and panther (may be from Greek pan + ther "all animal"). The stem in "glossa" is also found in English "gloss" and "glossary," and a variant occurs in glottis "vocal cords" and polyglot, which refers to a speaker of several languages梟ot to be confused with a linguist, someone who studies language scientifically. (Thank you, Michael Ramsey, for the suggestion that brought forth all the free knowledge in today's Word of the Day.)

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